


Christmastime at the Plaza

by PerkyGoth14



Category: Eloise - Kay Thompson (ill. Hilary Knight)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-10
Updated: 2015-01-17
Packaged: 2018-03-07 00:57:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3154811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerkyGoth14/pseuds/PerkyGoth14
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Atticus, Mo, Cherry, and Maestro Forte decide to spend Christmas in New York this year, bringing their children along who quickly bond with an unsupervised six-year-old little girl named Eloise as she takes them on wild adventures.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I know Christmas was last month, but here's a festive story based on an RP with my friend Atticus, we only own our OC's, Forte belongs to Disney, everyone else belongs to Kay Thompson and the movie crew who made this film. Read & Review!

A horse-drawn carriage was bringing a familiar family as there was Cherry holding a bundle in her arms with her family, her husband, Forte, and their daughter Felicity as they came into New York in front of the Plaza Hotel while an adult couple with twin children were waiting for them. It was Atticus, Mo, and their children, Akito and Estelle, but Atticus couldn't stay long, he had a case to solve in France.

Felicity bounced out, smiling at Akito and Estelle. "Bonjour, Akito and Estelle! It has been a while."

Forte stepped out, seeing the Fudo family for the first time.

"Yeah, it sure has, cuz." Akito said.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Forte," Atticus said. "And I wish I could stay, but I have case to solve in France, but I'll try to back in time for Christmas."

Felicity hugged Akito and Estelle.

"What's happened?" Forte asked as he helped Cherry out as she held the baby in her arms, who was covered up from the others to keep warm.

"A man was murdered in his own house, I've been called to solve the case." Atticus said.

"Good luck, Uncle Atticus." Felicity told the man.

"I know he can do it," Mo beamed. "Oh, Cherry, is that your baby?"

"Yes, everyone, meet Simon..." Cherry uncovered the baby, showing he was pale as Forte and also had ebony hair and seemed to have chocolate-brown eyes like Cherry, even had a tiny mole under his cheek.

"Aw! He's so adorable." Estelle said.

"He's not doing anything..." Akito looked.

"He's only a baby," Cherry said as she held Simon close, then handed him a rather sharp toy. "Here, sweetie."

Simon clutched the toy that looked like a deathly weapon and started to slash around with it, though not harming anyone with it.

"Do you need help on this case?" Forte asked Atticus.

"No, thanks." Atticus said as he was waiting for the horse-drawn carriage that would take him to the airport.

"Monsieur Valjean..." Cherry came to the driver. "Pourrait vous prendre mon ami à le aéroport?"

"Oui, Madame." the driver replied, allowing Atticus to go in.

"Be careful, okay?" Mo hugged her husband.

Felicity stood next to Akito and Estelle as they looked anxious to see their father go. As their father went off to the airport, Estelle was worried about her father.

"It will be okay, Estelle..." Felicity attempted to soothe.

"Come on, let's get you all inside before you freeze." Forte said, linking arms with Cherry and walking into the Plaza Hotel with them.

The hotel looked busy around Christmas time, everyone just hoped they would be able to get checked in and spend the holiday in New York.

"Ever since I was a young girl, I've wanted to spend my first Christmas away from home in New York..." Cherry looked around as they looked for the front desk.

"Your first Christmas was with me..." Forte reminded her with a smirk.

"And I suffered from six years of nightmares for that, thank you very much!" Cherry glared up at him.

While they were looking for the front desk, Estelle began to practice her ballet dancing.

"Welcome to the Plaza Hotel," the man behind his desk greeted. "I am the manager, Mr. Salamone."

"Hello, Monsieur Salamone..." Cherry smirked, seeming to be flirting with the man.

Felicity giggled and was doing what Estelle was doing, not mocking the girl, but just having fun with her. They then noticed another little girl.

"Who is she?" Felicity whispered to the twins.

"We don't know." Akito shrugged.

The little girl had her hair short and down, blonde with a pink hair ribbon, wearing a white blouse with a black jumper, white knee socks, and black shoes as she rang the bell, cutting in front of the adults with their children. "Good morning, Mr. Salamone," she smiled, turning to the group. "Are these new guests?"

"Yes, dear, we are, we're about to check in." Mo replied gently.

"Yeah and we're staying here for the holiday." Estelle said.

"Oh, great, you have kids too!" the girl sounded excited.

"Good morning, Eloise..." Mr. Salamone droned to the hyperactive blonde girl.

Forte took a hold of Simon, seeing Cherry's arms getting tired. "Little girl, we're busy right now, why don't you go off to your parents?"

"But my mommy's not here right now, she'll be back in time for Christmas though!" Eloise continued her chipper activity like a spring squirrel, not seeming to have any worry in her body.

"She seems a bit hyper." Akito said.

"Yeah..." Estelle agreed.

"Eloise, why don't you run off and play while I help these three grown-ups?" Mr. Salamone sounded impatient with the hotel's resident mischief maker.

"You guys can come with me, I'll show you around the hotel while your parents are busy." Eloise smiled at the three of them.

Felicity looked up to her parents, a little worried.

"Go ahead, enfant... It'll be good for you..." Forte looked down to his daughter.

Akito, Estelle, and Felicity went with Eloise.

"I'm Eloise," the girl told them as they walked off on their own. "I'm six and I live here in the Plaza Hotel!"

"By yourself?" Felicity sounded concerned.

"Oh, no, I live in a room with Nanny, Weenie, and Skipperty." Eloise explained with her cheerful smile.

"Who are Weenie and Skipperty?" Estelle asked.

"My dog and my turtle," Eloise explained as she led them to the elevator. "Pets usually aren't allowed in the building, but my mommy made an exception with the hotel staff. Mr. Salamone's the hotel manager, Max is the elevator attendant..." she was thinking of people to tell the visitors about like she does to any hotel guests with children close to her age.

"Cool." Akito said.

"Charlie the doorman is always happy to see me," Eloise showed them the front door to the man who was often opening it for people. "Hi, Charlie!"

"Good morning, Eloise," Charlie saluted. "Who are your friends?"

Eloise turned to the three of them. "I'm sorry, what are your names?"

"My name is Akito Fudo and this is my sister, Estelle Fudo, and this is our cousin, Felicity Forte." Akito said.

"Nice to meet you all," Charlie replied. "Stay out of trouble now, hear?"

"Yes, Charlie!" Eloise beamed, then continued to show Akito, Estelle, and Felicity around the Plaza. "Bonjour, Bob!"

"Bonjour, Miss Eloise." the man at the telephone told her, too busy to talk with them, but didn't want to be rude.

"He seems to be busy." Akito said.

"Everyone here is my best friend," Eloise smiled as she skipped along. "And then there's Prunella..."

"Prunella?" Felicity, Akito, and Estelle asked.

"Yes, Prunella..." Eloise explained who the woman was and how she had to be nice to her despite the woman being a bit rude towards her.

"Wow." Estelle said.

"She's so stubborn for Lord's sake!" Eloise got in their faces, then had a cheerful child smile as she came to the woman's desk as she was with a man. "Hi, I'm Eloise, are you starting a party here? My new friends and I would absolutely love to come!"

"Eloise, tell your new friends that I'm perfectly capable of handling this myself..." Prunella seemed to had been trying to get rid of the blonde girl, but not flat out yelling at her.

"Prunella is very capable." Eloise continued to be there and took the man off with her new friends.

"She seems more on work then being nice." Estelle said.

Prunella caught up. "ELOISE!" she nearly sounded angry.

Luckily, Eloise was distracted by something else before Prunella would get on her. "Oh, the tree! So sorry, have to run, you guys will love this!" she ran with them, away from Prunella and the man.

"Arbre?" Felicity asked.

"Yes, the tree." Eloise seemed to understand Felicity's French dialect as she ran with her new friends.

"Oh, I always love the Christmas tree, that, and presents and dancing." Estelle said.

The workers looked to Eloise to see what she thought of the tree they brought in.

Eloise looked at the tree, seeming to study it like a professional artist at work. "Well, I'm not at all happy with THAT corner and the top definitely needs some shaping... Here's my card." she went to one of the workers, handing them a card she wrote her name on.

"What's going on here?" an older teenage aged girl came in, wearing a fluffy white coat who resembled Eloise came in.

"Sissy!" Eloise rushed to her and hugged her tight and the girl hugged back. Eloise smiled and turned to them. "You guys, this is my big sister from 'boring school', Giselle!"

"Hello, ma'am," Akito said politely. "My name is Akito and this is my sister, Estelle and our cousin, Felicity."

"Nice to meet you," Giselle smiled. "You don't have to call me ma'am, I'm only 15. I see you met little Eloise."

"I didn't think you were ever coming!" Eloise smiled, looking up to her older sister.

"Sorry, kiddo, but travel takes a while, and you got me until a week after the new year."

Felicity and Estelle smiled at the sisterly reunion.

"Come on, let's go see Nanny." Eloise took them all to the elevator.

The man from behind Prunella's desk had accidentally walked into a Plaza Hotel worker, making him drop the presents as Eloise clicked the elevator button.

"Hey, you watch where you're going." the man told the employee rudely before going off.

"He's an evil man, I can already tell." Estelle said.

"Oh, he's probably just having a bad day, welcome to the Plaza, Akito, Estelle, and Felicity." Giselle smiled at them.

"Merci, Giselle." Felicity smiled up at the teen girl.

Eloise stepped in the elevator with them. "Top floor, please!"

The elevator attendant did as she said and stood quiet the rest of the ride.

"Max doesn't speak, ever," Eloise told her friends. "Even at something gross..."

"Good to know." Estelle said.

"Watch," Eloise said to them, then let out a scream as she backed up against the elevator space. "Max, there's a tarantula on your shoe!"

Max merely blinked and stood straight ahead, not even flinching.

"All he does is just stand there and pretend to not even notice me," Eloise came to her new friends. "It's really quite irritating."

"We can tell." Akito said.

The elevator dinged and Eloise led them all out.

"Good morning, Mrs. Thornton!" Eloise greeted a woman in her coat with a fluffy dog that appeared to be blue.

"When will they make it a law where they don't allow six-year-old girls and their friends to run wild along the Plaza Hotel?" Mrs. Thornton sounded very persnickety.

"The moment they don't allow old ladies to wear fur coats." Estelle said in remark.

Eloise looked back to her friends. "Mrs. Thornton can be rather cranky..."

Mrs. Thornton glanced at Eloise and Estelle. "I see your sister is back, Giselle, you tell your sister that amphibian of hers tried to bite my Mona again..."

"Skipperdy's a turtle and a turtle is a reptile." Eloise retorted.

"I say a turtle is an amphibian!" Mrs. Thornton argued.

Giselle rolled her eyes, boy, was that woman wrong.

"Was it a snapping turtle?" Akito asked.

"I don't care what kind of turtle it was, but that amphibian hurt my poor Mona," Mrs. Thornton glared at the kids. "Eloise, don't you go to school?" She refused to be wrong about calling the turtle an amphibian instead of a reptile like a normal, educated person.

"Nanny says that life experience is the best education I'll ever have." Eloise argued.

"Keep that nasty little pet of yours away from MY dog or I'll have the chef turn him into turtle soup." Mrs. Thornton went into the elevator, leaving the 'annoying children'.

"I do not like that woman very much." Felicity folded her arms.

"No one does." Giselle insisted.

"And I can see why, she is very mean." Estelle said.

"Now, it's time to go to my suite and wake up Nanny." Eloise came to her room door and opened it to show a glittering pink Christmas tree in a nice luxurious room for her, now her sister, and babysitter. "NAAAAAAANNNYYYYY!" she yelled as loud as she could.

This wakes up her nanny.


	2. Chapter 2

Nanny woke up instantly and went to see the little girl she had been looking after for a long time for Eloise and Giselle's mother who was halfway around the world right now.

"Nanny's the best," Eloise told her friends as they went to the bedroom the babysitter stayed in. "You'll like her."

"I haven't seen Nanny since you were in nursery school." Giselle smiled.

"She sounds nice." Estelle said.

"Yeah, she really does." Akito said.

Eloise, Felicity, Akito, Giselle, and Estelle were all in the room where Nanny was with her hair messed up from sleeping, her nightgown and slippers and the woman reacted in shock as she saw the kids.

"Finished my morning route!" Eloise saluted.

"What? What? We haven't had breakfast yet and you let strangers in our room, and--" Nanny stopped. "Giselle, is that you?"

The girl grinned. "I just got off for winter break!" 

Giselle and Nanny shared a quick reunion hug. Akito, Estelle, and Felicity then introduced themselves after the reunion hug. 

"Nice to meet you all," Nanny smiled at them. "I apologize for being rude just then, I just got out of bed, I wasn't aware Eloise had went out for her morning run yet. Where are all your parents?"

"My Maman and Papa told me to come with Akito and Estelle and Eloise to make friends." Felicity explained her reason.

Giselle went to the spare room to get her coat off and reveal her boarding school uniform as she got settled back with her little sister.

"Our mother is with them." Estelle said.

"And your father?" Nanny asked.

"He was called away on a case to solve." Akito said.

"Well, stick with us until then I suppose." Nanny mused. 

Eloise hopped onto Nanny's bed and reached to the hotel room phone and called on it, waiting for an answer. "Hello, it's me, Eloise," she introduced, then made a breakfast order and allowed her friends to have what they wanted too. 

Felicity, Akito, and Estelle decided to take off their winter coats for now since they were indoors. They then hung up their winter coats.

Eloise hung up the phone and took them to where she slept. "I have my very own room, which I keep rather nice, because when it isn't, I can't find a thing, including Skipperdy and Weenie."

The room seemed to be decorated for Christmas, along with due to Eloise being a little girl, most of it was pink, including the vinyl record in her player where the turtle was and there was a Pug dog with a white beard and red and white hat. 

"Your chein dresses up?" Felicity sounded confused.

"Yes, he does, he's dressed like Santa Claus." Eloise hugged her pet.

"Who is this Santa Claus?" Felicity tilted her head in slight confusion.

This caused Eloise, Estelle, and even Akito to gasp.

"What?" Felicity looked at them.

"You don't know who Santa Claus is?" Eloise couldn't believe her ears.

"Uh-uh...." Felicity shrugged.

They explained to Felicity of who Santa Clause was. 

"Oh... I never hearded of him..." Felicity sounded excited now like a normal child on December 24th, Christmas Eve, for the arrival of this man who traveled by reindeer.

"I have two Christmas lists," Eloise showed them rolled up paper in a corner of her room. "One is for what I want to give for people and the other one is for presents that I want to get." she said as she wrote in a red marker to give Mrs. Thornton coal as the list of stuff she wanted hit the floor and rolled all the way out of the open doors.

"Wow, that is one long list." Akito said.

"And it's still not done." Eloise said as she went to add something else to her Christmas list underneath an orange dress.

Nanny was heard singing Christmas carols as she came to join the kids with a box of decorations. Giselle helped the older woman.

"Your nanny is a great singer." Estelle said.

"Oh, thank you, dear." Nanny smiled at Estelle, having heard that.

Eloise crawled over to the couch, watching her nanny with the tinsel and lovely Christmassy things to fill their room with during the most wonderful time of the year. There was a knock at the door which alerted Eloise and Nanny.

"That must be the breakfast." Akito said.

Eloise wore a red cape and held a candy cane like a pirate's sword, after a moment, she let the person come in and it was indeed room service coming in with breakfast for Eloise and Nanny. Felicity sat on the couch with Akito and Estelle while Eloise was playing pirate with the room service man while Nanny sat in a chair tied up with the tinsel and lights.

"You have been warned for the little pirate Eloise." Giselle played along with her younger sister's huge imagination.

"This looks like fun." Estelle whispered.

"Not so fast..." Eloise raised the candy cane. "What's that?"

"What?" the worker looked down and to Akito, Estelle, and Felicity's surprise, he took out a wooden spoon. "This!?"

Eloise and the worker then had a pretend sword fight, he seemed to be the only hotel employee to tolerate her childish tendencies.

"Argh, you can win, pirate Eloise." Akito said, playing along.

Eloise did a cartwheel, making the worker drop his spoon and she stood on the couch in victory. Nanny pretended to be in grave danger as the two had their little game. 

Eloise let out her candy cane and the worker took a quick lick. "Good, huh?"

The worker nodded. The two then went back to 'fighting'.

"Cut off his hand and feed it to a crocodile." Estelle chuckled.

"Aye!" Akito said.

Nanny and Giselle looked away as soon as Eloise 'stabbed' the employee, making him drop his spoon and fall down to 'die'. 

"Very dramatic, is he not?" Felicity observed.

"Bill's an actor, he loves doing this kind of stuff." Eloise said as she looked over the couch to see the 'fallen pirate'.

"We can tell." Estelle said.

"Eloise," Bill got back up, actually talking with the girl this time and not over acting like he was before. "There's a party at the terrace later, wanna come, say 4:00?"

"Okay!" Eloise chirped, then grew serious. "Of course, I'll have to check my schedule."

Both looked to Nanny, who would happily allow it.

The phone then rang and Nanny then answered it, after talking a moment, she hung up. "Eloise, your new friends have to go to their rooms now, they have some unpacking to do." 

"Awww...." all the kids moaned.

"Now, now, you can always meet up after we eat." Nanny quickly told them to cheer them up.

"Okay." The kids said happily.

The kids quickly went to their rooms to unpack with their mothers. Forte was sitting in the chair as Cherry helped Felicity with her things and Mo helped Akito and Estelle.

"Cerise, he's hungry again..." Forte said to his wife.

Cherry sighed in annoyance, then took a turn in the chair while Forte traded places with her and Cherry put a blanket over her chest and fed Simon his hourly milk.

"How many times is that now?" Akito asked

"So far today, three," Cherry said as she held Simon close as he got his 'food'. "Flick was never this hungry when she was a baby..."

"How would you know?" Forte snorted as he helped his daughter with her things.

"Give Aunt Cherry a break, Uncle Forte." Akito said.

"She wasn't there," Forte looked down at the boy. "I had to take care of our daughter for seven years until she came back..."

"We all know my maternity history..." Cherry glared back at him. 

"Come on, guys, it's Christmas, no time for this foolishness." Mo said to them as she got out her twins' pajamas for tonight.

"Mom's right." Estelle said.

"Christmas is a bit of a sore subject on us..." Forte remarked.

"We'll be fine, Charles." Cherry said as she put up the blanket and placed Simon on the bed next to Felicity and she adjusted her top back.

A few minutes later, they were all done unpacking.

"Are we finished?" Felicity asked frantically.

"Yes, dear, we're all done," Cherry said as she picked Simon back up and held him over her shoulder with a pacifier in his mouth. "That wasn't too bad, now was it?"

"No, it wasn't so bad." Estelle said.

"Can we go see our friend now?" Akito asked.

"Is that alright with you?" Cherry asked Mo.

"Of course, have fun with your new friend, but make sure you're back in time for dinner, we're all eating together." Mo reminded them with a sweet smile.

Felicity hugged her father's legs. "Au revior, Maman and Papa, do not forget us while we are away?"

"Of course, my child, I wouldn't dare forget my own children..." Forte said as he gently stroked her dark brown hair.

All three of them then went to have fun with their new friend. Eloise got her new friends to hide with her in the plaza's Christmas tree as there was word of a giant present to be brought in. A woman walked by to get to the front doors and take care of it.

Eloise then jumped out beside her. "Good morning, Cornelia!" 

The woman looked back with a welcoming smile to the four kids, but continued to get down to business.

"She seems busy." Akito said.

"Come on, let's go." Eloise took them to the elevator to go to the top again after telling Max where to go. 

"I wonder who that grande present is for?" Felicity wondered.

"Who knows?" Estelle said.

"Here, I'll show you Mr. Peabody." Eloise said to them.

The elevator dinged and the four kids came out as Eloise explained to them who Mr. Peabody was on their way to his office.

"Cool." Estelle said.

"Mr. Peabody!" Eloise walked into the business-type room with her new friends. 

"Oh, no..." the man murmured behind his desk as the girl was coming.

"I have a bone to pick with you!" Eloise came closer. "By the way, these are my friends, Akito, Estelle, and Felicity."

"Hello, sir." Akito said.

"It's lovely to see you all, but I'm afraid I'm very busy at the moment." Mr. Peabody told the kids.

"But it's a matter of life and death!" Eloise shrieked.

"Yeah!" Estelle shrieked.

Mr. Peabody looked at them. "Where's Cornelia?" He asked then.

"She unfortunately had to step out." Eloise replied.

"Yep, now back to the life or death situation." Estelle said.

Eloise was standing on Mr. Peabody's desk in a frenzy and even fell forward on him, forcing him to catch her to make sure she wouldn't fall and hurt herself. 

"Eloise, please, your friends have to play somewhere else, I'm expecting someone very important at any moment..." Mr. Peabody sounded apprehensive. 

"But, we need you to--" Estelle tried to explain.

"You four need to go, it's very important, now go and run along now." Mr. Peabody set Eloise down on the floor with the three other kids. 

Just then, before they could go anywhere, there was a young woman at the door, seeming to be waiting for Mr. Peabody.

"Hello, ma'am." Akito said.

"Why, hello here..." the woman greeted back. 

Mr. Peabody whispered gently to the woman and walked up to her. "You look so grown up..." he said to her as they shared a hug.

Eloise, Akito, Estelle, and Felicity wondered what was going on now. They saw a picture of a younger woman who slightly resembled the older woman in the room with them.

"My guess is you must be his daughter."Akito said to the older woman.

"Why, yes, I am, my name is Rachel," the woman replied. "I'm here to visit my father while I'm here with my new fiance."

"And where is this fiance I've heard so much about?" Mr. Peabody asked.

"Pleased to meet you, sir," the rude man from many times before walked in, shaking Mr. Peabody's hand. "Brooks Oliver III."

The four kids had their eyes widen suddenly.

"A wedding?!" Estelle exclaimed from happiness.

Brooks and Mr. Peabody were getting acquainted. 

"You're getting married on Christmas Eve!?" Eloise sounded delighted now and ran towards the adults. "That's the most romantic thing I've ever heard!"

"Mais oui!" Felicity agreed.

"And who might these little dears be?" Rachel looked down to them.

"I'm Eloise, I'm six," the blonde girl started. "These are my new friends, Akito, Estelle, and Felicity."

"Pleased to meet you, Rachel." Akito said.

"And they were just leaving," Mr. Peabody smiled apologetically, taking the four kids away. "Weren't you all? These other kids are guests, Eloise lives here."

"On the top floor!" Eloise added in.

"I heard." Rachel smiled friendly to all of the children who were in the office.

"Me, my sister, Estelle, our mom, Mo, our cousin, Felicity and our aunt, Cherry, and our uncle, Forte, and our baby nephew, Simon are staying at the Plaza during the holiday while our dad is out solving a case in France." Akito said.

Mr. Peabody decided to take his daughter and her fiance out for lunch.

"Nice to meet you all." Rachel smiled at the kids.

"Nice to meet you too, Rachel." Eloise sounded grateful to have met the woman.

Brooks looked at the kids with a friendly smile, but they weren't buying it, they just gave him the stink eye.

"Something seems wrong about him." Akito said.

"You got that right." Eloise nodded, then skipped along with them, passing Cornelia who was covered in gift wrapping grass. "Good morning, Cornelia!" 

The woman glanced at the kids as they left, then looked away again to return to her post.

"I really want to be apart of that wedding." Eloise said to her friends.

"Me too." Estelle said.

"Why do you not ask?" Felicity asked.

Eloise thought about it, then beamed right up. "I'm going to write Mr. Peabody a letter!"

"What a great idea!" Estelle said.

Eloise looked that it was close to lunch time. "You think you can come over?"

"We should probably ask our parents first..." Felicity shuffled her boots in the hotel rug, nervously. 

"Yeah, let's go." Akito agreed.

"Yeah." Estelle agreed.

"Which room are you staying in?" Eloise asked. "I'll wait out the door after you ask your parents, then we'll go to my room on the tippy-top."

The kids got to their room to ask their parents to spend more time with Eloise.

"This is a family vacation..." Cherry sounded whiny as she was dangling a rattle over baby Simon.

"Sil vous plait, Maman, you and Papa could have some more time alone or with Simon, besides, Papa said it would be good if I made new friends and did things with them..." Felicity came to her mother.

"Yeah, so can we go stay at Eloise's and have lunch please?" Estelle asked.

"Okay, sweeties, you can go, but we want you to have dinner with us." Mo stated. 

"Maman, sil vous plait..." Felicity got onto her mother's back, flattening the young adult woman in front of the baby.

Forte picked Felicity up off Cherry and set her back away. "It's alright with me."

"Merci, Papa..." Felicity smiled at him.

"Alright, you can go... But what Mo said, back for dinner." Cherry said, resting her hand under her cheek, glaring up at the kids, Mo, and Forte.

"Yes, ma'am." Akito said.

Akito, Estelle, and Felicity met Eloise back outside and went to her room as Nanny was decorating still.

"Okay, go." Giselle said as she was going to write out the letter for her younger sister

"'Dear, Ms. Peabody, it was very nice to make your acquaintance today. As you may have heard, I, Eloise, am rather helpful when it comes to weddings, my friends can also help you, such as flower girls or ring bearers, I come with my own dress and corsage. And with your permission perhaps, we could provide our attendance. Yours truly, Eloise, Felicity, Estelle, and Akito'."

"Don't forget your catering skills," Nanny reminded Eloise. "Grilled cheese sandwiches and caviar!"

"Cool." Estelle said.

"Right, did you get all that, Giselle?" Eloise asked.

"Check and check." Giselle nodded.

"Do you think they got it all down?" Eloise looked to her stuffed animals who also had pads and pencils.

"Oh, I'll make sure they get it out right away." Nanny told the girl as she climbed down her step ladder and smiled at the decorations she put up.

"Great decorations." Estelle said.

"Thank you." Nanny smiled, really liking the job well done.

"Just think, guys, a Christmas Eve wedding." Eloise smiled dreamily towards Akito, then looked sharp and firm. "Not that I'd wanna marry that Brooks if you ask me! There's something fishy about him..."

"He did not smell like the fish when I had seen him..." Felicity misunderstood.

"No, what she meant was something didn't seem right about him, like there's another side of him that no one knows." Akito explained.

"Oh." Felicity now understood.

"You guys wanna see Bill?" Eloise asked. "He's probably expecting us by now."

"Sure." The three of them said in unison.

The kids went off, closing the door which made Nanny's garland fall from where it was.

"Here, let me help you..." Giselle told the woman.

The kids were in the elevator, it was boring, no one was talking or doing anything, besides waiting for their floor. 

Eloise smirked, then got on the floor, making the others do the same. "Has anyone seen my pet mouse?"

The elevator doors opened and the adults ran out, screaming. Max still hadn't reacted and just stood there like a bump on a log.

"Really?" Estelle asked him.

Max glanced down at her, ignoring her.

"Come on, let's just go." Eloise led her and the others to the terrace where Bill was with a few other workers as they were setting up for fine dining in the hotel.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey, Bill." Estelle said.

"Hey, kiddos, I saw you in Eloise's room earlier." Bill smiled at them as he came up with a wheeling cart.

"You are a marvelous actor!" Felicity beamed at him.

"I'm glad you think so." Bill smiled, feeling flattered.

"You really are." Estelle said.

"Well, I'm hoping that someday a talent scout will discover me and I'll make it big." Bill said, but didn't sound snooty or obnoxious about his dreams at all, then allowed Eloise to hop on the cart.

"Can we help?" Felicity asked.

"Of course you can!" Bill beamed.

"Yay!" Estelle beamed.

"Great!" Akito said.

"Bill and me make a rather good catering team," Eloise told her friends as they went around the tables. "Sometimes we pretend that we're king and queen preparing a little soiree for all our closest friends. Remember to invite the Duke and Duchess or Arigato."

"Yes, but I'm afraid I can't madame," Bill played along, juggling the condiments as Eloise spread the poinsettia leaves. "Their country had been plagued by dragons and can't travel-" he then broke character and rushed to get the one he dropped.

'Was that a part of his character?' Estelle thought.

Felicity gave Bill the shakers back.

"Thank you..." Bill told her sheepishly.

Eloise went to one of the tables, picked up a knife and licked it, then rubbed it across her blouse, then put it back.

"So, what room next?" Akito asked.

"Bill and I usually like to take a break by the piano and sing along together." Eloise told them.

Felicity seemed interested. "With a cléconseil?"

"Of course with a keyboard, silly!" Eloise giggled.

"Makes sense." Estelle said.

Bill and Eloise started to play and sing Walking in a Winter Wonderland together.

"So, how's that Christmas list coming?" Bill asked after the song ended.

"So much work so far." Eloise nearly slumped.

"How many you got so far?"

"73."

While they were playing on the piano, Estelle was practicing her dancing even though she looked like a pro, like everyone says, practice makes perfect. Bill smiled at Estelle, then decided to play Beethoven like music such as Fur Elise for her ballet moves.

"Play Swan Lake, that's Estelle's favorite." Akito said.

"Hmm... Let's see... How did that go again?" Bill asked himself, then played Swan Lake for Estelle.

Felicity and Eloise sat beside Bill on the bench. He began to play the swan lake ballet from Swan Lake. And where through it all, Estelle danced wonderfully and beautifully, especially her jump and looking like she was doing a pas de deux with someone all by herself. Everyone continued to watch while Bill played the piece for the twin girl. She ended her dance perfectly. Everyone clapped for Estelle's dance performance.

"Oh, Estelle, that was absolutely très lovely!" Eloise beamed.

"Indeed it very much was so." Felicity agreed.

"I'm impressed, little lady, maybe you and I could work with Broadway someday." Bill chuckled with a friendly smile.

"Thank you." Estelle said as she curtsied.

"I have tried the ballet once... I do not think I could be as good as you, Estelle..." Felicity said as she kicked her feet as she sat on the bench with Bill and Eloise.

"You just need practice." Estelle said.

Felicity sighed with a smile. "Yes, the practicing tends to be a bit hard in my department."

"Cheer up, Felicity, you may be able to do it someday." Eloise encouraged.

Prunella was now coming in with Rachel and Brooks following her.

'Oh, great, Brooks is here.' Estelle thought.

"Are you crazy?" Eloise suddenly popped up next to the adults, causing them to look at her.

"Oh, no..." Prunella moaned.

"I agree with Eloise." Estelle said.

Eloise took Rachel's hand, walking with her and her friends to talk with her. Bill accidentally made a mess with the silverware, looking up nervously to Rachel.

"What is the matter with you?" Prunella was angry with Bill's actions.

"Rachel..." Bill whispered.

"Bill..." Rachel whispered back.

"You two know each other?" Akito asked.

"How's that?" Estelle asked.

"We're old friends," Rachel kept looking to Bill. "I didn't know you were still working here. Um, Bill, this is..."

"Brooks Oliver III," the fiance came to the man who seemed to be more in love with Rachel than he was. "Rachel's fiance."

Bill looked very disappointed instantly, shaking hands with Brooks. Akito and Estelle could see that.

Prunella let out a very audible yawn to get some attention back from Brooks and Prunella. "Excuse me, Mr. Oliver, but we DO have a wedding to plan. This way..."

Rachel and Brooks then left to follow Prunella while Bill looked visibly upset about Mr. Peabody's daughter being engaged.

Eloise wasn't sure what to do.

"Getting close to the dinner time." Felicity looked at the giant clock in the room.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sorry, guys, we gotta go." Estelle said. She was also trying to find out what to do.

The kids then met their parents in the dining hall part of the hotel.

Simon was put in a baby seat beside Cherry while Forte sat next to Felicity. Akito and Estelle sat across from Mo. Estelle and Akito seemed to be distant, they were trying to find out of what to do. Simon was looking to the twins and opening and closing his hands.

"No, boy, you may not murder any of them..." Forte looked down sharply to his younger son, then sighed, nudging Cherry. "'Let's have another baby,' you said... 'It'll be good to experiment Flick's maternal skills,' you said..."

"I didn't say it would be easy..." Cherry said as she didn't look up from her menu and decided to get a seafood salad.

"Are you two okay?" Mo asked her twin children.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, we're okay, we're just thinking." Estelle said.

Cherry handed Simon a sharp knife on purpose. "You kids had a big adventure time with your new friend, huh? What was her name? Ellen? Jolene?"

"Eloise." Felicity told her mother.

"Well, at least you're making new friends." Cherry folded her arms to get comfortable, lying her head on Forte's shoulder.

"Wish we knew more about this Oliver Brooks guy." Estelle said.

"That name sounds familiar..." Forte murmured as he sipped his wine with his free hand. "I can't place where I've heard it though... Cerise?"

"I can't say if I remember or not..." Cherry shrugged.

Simon swished and swayed the knife, then threw it across the room which alarmed another guest woman, making her duck, and the knife had stabbed a fly on the wall.

"Wow." Estelle said as she saw what happened.

"Very good, honey..." Cherry told her baby.

Simon didn't even smile or clap, but he had the same stoic expressionless face his parents often had.

"It's probably not that important..." Forte shrugged, still sipping his wine and barely touching his food.

Mo was thinking that she could call Atticus tonight before Akito and Estelle would get to bed.

'There got be something me and Akito and Felicity can do.' Estelle thought.

"Hurry up and munch your salmon, cherie, you've got to get some rest soon." Cherry said to her daughter.

"Oui, Maman..." Felicity gave a nod, then ate what she could.

Simon seemed to be trying to murder his food instead of playing around with it like a normal baby.

"Well, that's interesting." Akito said as he saw what Simon was doing with his food.

Mo looked a little disturbed, but kept focused on her own dinner.

"Are you all going to play with this Eloise again tomorrow?" Forte asked.

"We were hoping we could, Papa, if it is alright..." Felicity said softly.

"It's fine, but your mother and I are going to do a bit of shopping, we're hoping Simon doesn't do what he normally does, you know he hates crowds." Cherry then said.

"He does?" Estelle asked.

"He gets that from me," Cherry said plainly. "Only Simon is more violent and prone to stress in crowds than I ever was."

"Wow." Estelle said.

"Simon doesn't play well with others..." Cherry gently stroked her son's hair.

"Oh, my." Estelle said.

"He makes me so proud to be a mother..." Cherry cooed.

Simon looked to his mother emotionlessly as she was.

Forte deeply shuddered and sipped his wine. "Time for bed, children."

"Aww!" The kids moaned

"We'll try to contact your father, how does that sound?" Mo leaned in with a smile.

Simon seemed to be fussy in his seat as Felicity was trying to take him in her arms.

"Simon, sil vous plait, stop it!" Felicity whimpered as her baby brother pulled one of her pigtails.

"Cerise, your children want you..." Forte smirked.

Cherry sighed sharply, glaring at him, then went to sort it.

Mo then went to a phone to call Atticus. Cherry and Forte took their children upstairs to get them to rest and take a break due to the long travel today and from spending so much time with Eloise. Akito and Estelle waited with Mo to be able to call and hear from their father after he had been gone after they came to New York. Then there finally came an answer.

"Hello, Atticus?" Mo asked, smiling once she finally got in contact with her darling husband.

"Hello, Mo, so, how are you Akito, Estelle, Cherry, Forte, Felicity, and Simon doing?" Atticus said from the other line.

"We're well, just finished dinner, Cherry and Maestro took their kids back to the room, I just wanted to speak with you before you'd go to bed yourself as well as Akito and Estelle." Mo informed with a smile.

"Yeah, can I speak to the kids?" Atticus asked from the other line.

"Sure, hold on," Mo smiled, then lowered the phone to the twins to put it in between them.

"Hey, Dad!" Akito and Estelle greeted, happy to hear from their father.

"Hey, kids. Estelle, how have you been doing with your dancing?" Attics asked from the other line.

"Oh, Dad, it's wonderful, Bill and Eloise played Swan Lake for me!" Estelle beamed.

"That's great, are they your new friends?" Atticus asked from the other line.

"Mostly Eloise," Akito answered then. "She lives in the hotel, Dad, lives in it!"

"Yeah, she's not a guest!" Estelle added. She and her brother had never met anyone who actually lived in a hotel and wasn't only visiting.

"Well, when I get back, I'm going to have a big surprise." Atticus said on the other line.

"Ooh, can't wait." Akito said

"When are you coming back, Daddy?" Estelle sounded like she really missed him more than Akito or Mo did.

"Yeah, we really miss you." Akito said.

"I should be back by I think either Christmas Eve or Christmas at the most." Atticus said.

"Be careful out there," Estelle wished for him, though was still sad. "Make Eddie Valiant proud."

"I will, princess." Atticus said from the other line.

"Bye, Daddy..." Estelle said lowly.

Mo put her hand down on her shoulder in sympathy.

"Bye, Dad, see ya soon..." Akito said lowly.

"Bye, sport, see you all soon." Atticus said said on the other line.

Akito then handed the phone to Mo.

Mo took the phone back. "Really be careful out there, Atticus..." she was very serious to her true love. "I know you can do it, I think you were a born detective, I'm sure even Sherlock Holmes himself would go to you for help."

"Thanks, Mo, well," Atticus yawned as he spoke on the other line. "I better get to sleep."

"Okay, dear... Have a good night..." Mo said gently, she had really been in touch with her feminine side due to Elizabeth's raising her after she was adopted by the family and their prim and proper cocker spaniel.

"Good night, Daddy!" Akito and Estelle called out.

"Good night, Mo, good night, kids." Atticus said from the other line until he hung up.

Mo smiled and hung up. "I know how you all feel, I miss him too... But he's not gone forever."

"Yeah." Akito and Estelle said.

"Now, let's get you to bed," Mo smiled, going with them. "You two must've had so much fun with your new friend, Eloise."

"We sure did, this the most fun we've had with another kid." Estelle said.

"She's okay... For a girl..." Akito smiled.

Mo chuckled. "Well, let's hope you all stick together. I know it's also good for your cousin Felicity to make new friends along her ways and journeys around the world with now both her parents instead of her mother traveling alone."

"Yeah." Akito said.

Mo smiled, taking Akito and Estelle to bed as she deeply hoped Atticus would be alright. Forte and Cherry were just lying in their bed, curled up with books with the lights out while Felicity rested and Simon was fast asleep. Mo, Akito, and Estelle then came in.

"How did it go?" Cherry droned, scanning her book.

"Great." Akito said.

"That's nice..." Forte sounded the same as Cherry as they read in bed.

"You two are only focused on your books, aren't you?" Estelle asked.

Cherry lowered her book, her face expressionless as always. "When you don't sleep, you keep yourself very busy at night."

"Right." Akito and Estelle said in unison.

"Come on, dears, let's get ourselves to bed." Mo told Akito and Estelle, leaving the small Forte clan and went to their room.

"You both should sleep just fine tonight with all the excitement today." Mo said with a smile as she was tucking her twins in their bed.

"Mama, do you believe in true love?" Estelle asked.

"Why, I believe I do," Mo smiled fondly. "I had love at first sight when I met your father... Why do you ask, dear? Was there a boy you met while with your cousin, brother and new friend?"

"What, no. It's just that Mr. Peabody's daughter and Bill were old friends, but they looked they were, like, I don't know, maybe in love." Estelle said.

"How could you tell?" Mo wondered, still smiling though.

"They couldn't take their eyes off each other." Estelle said.

"That'll do it..." Mo smiled then as she remembered when she first saw Atticus when they were younger. "I heard though that Mr. Peabody's daughter is already engaged with someone else... Brooks Oliver, I believe."

"But, Brooks is wrong for Rachel, I can feel it!" Estelle exclaimed.

Mo tried to get her daughter to settle down. "Sweetie, it's going to be okay... Bill probably had a crush on Rachel before she met Brooks and he's trying to accept the fact that he can't have her... Get some sleep, okay?"

"Fine." Estelle said.

"You'll probably see your new friend tomorrow," Mo smiled, tucking in Estelle. "By the way, I just heard your aunts' and uncle's presents will be coming in by tomorrow afternoon. Your father and I told them that we were spending Christmas in the Plaza Hotel this year."

"That's great." Estelle said with a smile.

"That should cheer you and Akito up," Mo smiled. "Remember, you both are allowed to open ONE present each on Christmas Eve, maybe you could play with them with Eloise and Felicity."

"Yeah." Estelle said.

"Have a good night, my angels." Mo smiled, kissing their cheeks and setting off to her own spot to get some sleep in the luxurious hotel.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning, Felicity was still lying in her bed without the covers on her and had wrapped her arms around her body as she was getting some rest. Cherry and Forte were getting in their coats to do some shopping and had adjusted Simon into a stroller to get by with him through the mall and gave him a chilled teething ring in his mouth to keep him busy.

"Monique, would you like to come shopping with us?" Forte asked as he got on his coat.

"Sure." Mo said, getting Estelle and Akito into their coats after she got into her coat.

"Maybe, we'll see Eloise, Giselle, and Nanny." Estelle said.

"Be good for them." Cherry zipped up Felicity's loose jacket. 

"Oui, Maman, I will..." Felicity gave a nod.

"We better get going then so we don't get trampled or something..." Forte sounded cautious about the shopping with it being only days now away from the joyous holiday.

"Let's get going." Akito said.

The three kids went to find Eloise, Giselle, or Nanny again and when they came out the elevator, Eloise was already on the ground floor in a red coat with sunglasses and walking around with Weenie on a leash.

"There she is!" Felicity pointed to their new friend.

"Yay!" Estelle beamed.

"Eloise? Eloise!" Akito went to her with the others.

"Guys?" Eloise lowered her sunglasses, seeing them and smiled.

They all hugged, even if they were together yesterday.

"Good to see you all again," Eloise smiled, sliding her sunglasses back. "I was just on my way to go to some shopping." She said, like a mature adult, even if she had a childish optimism like a normal girl her age.

"Are cheins allowed...?" Felicity looked down anxiously at the pug with the girl.

"Oh, Weenie will be allowed in, he won't cause any trouble, Mommy and Giselle made it so I could take him anywhere." Eloise smiled. 

Giselle was behind a desk, waiting for Eloise to come so they could spend some time together.

"Looks like Giselle is waiting for you." Estelle said.

"Yeah, you guys wanna come hang out with her and me?" Eloise smiled. "She's always happy to meet some of my little friends."

"If you do not think we will be intrusion." Felicity stated.

"It'll be fine, Flick, we're invited after all." Akito said to her.

"Yeah." Estelle said.

"Ready to go, Oise?" Giselle came, asking the six-year-old girl.

"Ready, Selle!" Eloise beamed.

The two sisters held hands while Felicity and the twins walked beside them, tossing tinsel onto the plaza's Christmas tree as guests walked by it, marveling at the beautiful sight. Brooks wasn't too far from them and was on the telephone. He seemed to be everywhere recently.

"He's on the phone, maybe he's talking to Rachel." Estelle said.

Eloise decided to walk over and see what the commotion was and started to ask Brooks several questions that he seemed really hesitant to answer.

Giselle took out her make-up and applied some lipstick, puckering her youthful lips. 

"Who were you talking to?" Akito asked Brooks.

"T-That was actually a business call for me, excuse me a moment..." Brooks covered up, then quickly walked away to get away from the group.

"That was suspicious," Estelle said then noticed a man looking to where they were and then his face behind a news paper. "Even more suspicious."

"We better check him out." Eloise told her friends.

"It might be too dangerous." Felicity sounded scared about that option.

"We'll never know until we try." Akito suggested.

The kids came to the newspaper man anyway. Eloise came up, about to snatch the paper, but then Nanny just came with her coat and hat.

"There you are!" Nanny beamed, wrapping her arm around the blonde girl. "Come along, it's cold, cold, cold!" she put on a hat on Eloise. "Giselle, are you all warm?"

"Yes, Nanny." Giselle gave a nod.

Estelle was about to snatch the newspaper away from the man.

"Come along, Estelle, you can come with us." Nanny told the girl as she was walking out with Eloise and Giselle, expecting the new friends to follow.

"Come on, we'll deal with him later." Akito whispered to his twin sister.

"You're right." Estelle whispered.

They then joined Eloise, Nanny, and Giselle. 

Charlie decided to take Weenie off Eloise and Giselle's hands since the group would be taking a horse ride through New York around Christmas time.

"Have you lot ever been horse riding like this before?" Giselle asked.

"Many times back home with Maman and Papa." Felicity spoke of her experience.

"Me and Akio had experience on the way to the hotel with Mom and Dad." Estelle said.

"Where's he going?" Eloise asked the coach woman.

"Anywhere you ask him to." the woman smiled at the heiress.

Eloise ran to her older sister and babysitter. "Oh, Nanny, Giselle, I love you!"

"Let's go, plenty of room for everyone." Nanny climbed in.

Felicity, Akito, and Estelle climbed in after her.

"This is going to be so much fun!" Estelle beamed.

"It really is the true New York experience." Giselle told the kids with a friendly smile.

The woman strapped on the reigns, making her horse go and have them travel in high class style.

"Ooh la la..." Felicity was so comfortable in her seat.

Estelle and Akito were also comfortable in their seat. The horse ride took them through to get a closer look at how New York City really looked as the kids looked with wonder and were very pleased with what they were seeing.

"Time for last minute Christmas shopping." Eloise said to her friends before the coach would stop and they could go out and wander the mall as they pleased.

"Cool." Estelle said.

Eloise, Felicity, Akito, and Estelle went shopping with Giselle, though the older girl had to hide a few things from her younger sister as they went along as Nanny was doing separate shopping herself. Eloise seemed to be loved by everyone in the market and was nearly treated like a celebrity wherever she went, though she was not a child actress or a famed little girl despite her popularity among New York, namely the Plaza Hotel.

"I just love shopping." Estelle said.

"It is rather lovely!" Eloise agreed with a smile.

They continued to shop.

After their shopping spree, Eloise and Giselle came out with assorted bags with Akito, Estelle, and Felicity following after them. 

Nanny looked out a display window and marveled at a big, puffy red winter coat. 

"To the next shop!" Eloise told her friends.

"I swear, El, you shop just like Mum." Giselle smiled, she developed a bit of a British accent due to having been in a boarding school in England.

"Does your mom really shop this much?" Estelle asked.

"I'm sure she does," Eloise answered with a smile as she carried her bags and boxes. "Mommy goes to Europe all the time where the best stores are!"

"Europe?" Estelle asked.

"You know, where Paris, Rome, and all those other places are." Eloise explained, smiling.

"Eloise and Giselle's mother goes there all the time." Nanny added as she helped the kids back into the coach.

"Cool, wait, is France a part of Europe?" Estelle asked.

"But of course it is." Felicity answered to that.

"Yes, it's in Paris," Eloise smiled. "I went with Mommy one summer and we had such a lovely time!"

"Then she might meet our father there, because he was called there to solve a case." Estelle said.

"Really..." Eloise sounded intrigued. "I wonder if we'll ever find out, Mommy calls at least once a day to check on me."

"Have to wonder how Mum affords all those calls." Giselle jokingly said to Nanny, who laughed in return.

The kids had traveled along and even passed a Toys R Us store.

"What is a 'Toys are us'?" Felicity looked back to her friends.

"It's a great toy store." Akito said.

"I never heard of it..." Felicity smiled.

"You haven't lived!" Eloise chirped. 

"Let's go inside, shall we?" Nanny suggested.

"Yes, please!" Estelle chirped.

The horse cart stopped so the people could get out and walk into the world's most popular toy store. A couple of workers greeted the incoming people as others were walking happily. As they came in, Estelle was really excited. Akito, Estelle, and Felicity looked with wonder among the array of toys.

"We must be in toy heaven." Estelle said.

"This place is a kid's paradise." Akito told Felicity.

"I have never seen anything like it..." Felicity looked among her surroundings with wide eyes.

"Come on, guys, let's go explore!" Eloise ran with her new friends.

"Yeah!" Akito and Estelle beamed.

Giselle and Nanny tried to stop the kids, but they were already gone. Eloise ran with her friends through the Barbie dolls to the Cabbage Patch Kids, and many more. Felicity had never seen such toys like this.

"This is so much fun." Estelle said.

Nanny and Giselle finally caught up with the kids as they were standing in a random spot.

"Young lady, I--" Nanny was about to scold Eloise.

"It's about time!" the blonde girl said before anything could be final and she walked off, having done more shopping and some secret shopping away from Akito, Estelle, and Felicity at one point.

"This has been the most fun I've ever had while shopping." Estelle said.

The group was now on the streets as it got very dark and they were on the streets as the lights were shining brighter than they had ever before. 

"There is a man ringing a bell!" Felicity pointed to the man dressed like Santa Clause, not familiar with his outfit as he was accepting donations for the poor since people thought more about others around the holidays instead of just themselves.

They then went toward the man in the Santa Clause suit.

"This is Santa Clause, Felicity." Estelle explained.

"Ohh..." Felicity smiled.

Eloise looked up to the man and tugged on his beard as he flinched in slight pain. "Just checking!" She told him with a chipper smile, then put a huge box inside his donation pot.

This was a great shopping day for the kids.

"Eloise: 159, Nanny: zero." Giselle scored the shopping day as they came back into the hotel.

"Oh, isn't there anything more wonderful than Christmas?" Eloise smiled while Nanny looked exhausted.

A couple of men came behind the group with a bunch of boxes and bags to take up to the room with them.

"Hey, you know, I've noticed we haven't seen that old lady in a while, what's her name again?" Estelle said.

The elevator dinged, showing that exact woman with her poodle, looking miserable as usual. Eloise randomly fainted in the middle of the floor.

"ELLIE!" Giselle sounded terrified for her little sister.

Estelle and surprisingly even Akito fainted, all three of them thought they saw the old lady's ghost. Weenie tried to lick Eloise awake, but it was no use.

"What happened here?" Cherry asked as she carried Simon in her arms while Forte seemed to be having trouble carrying the shopping bags, nearly stumbling around the lobby. 

Felicity was knocked out too.

"They saw her and fainted." Giselle said while pointing toward Mrs. Thornton.

Mrs. Thornton harrumphed, then walked off snootily. Giselle stuck her tongue out at the woman for Eloise, then helped Nanny carry her back to their room. 

"Aw, Flick..." Cherry set Simon on the floor and picked up Felicity, then back to Simon in her other arm.

"Oh, you poor things..." Mo cooed to her knocked out children as she tried to carry them.

"Mommy, Mrs. Thornton's ghost, me, Akito, Felicity, and Eloise saw her her ghost coming back to haunt us." Estelle said, sounding scared after waking up.

"It's okay, sweetie, we're going to the room now..." Mo soothed as she carried Akito and Estelle carefully.

"Charles, get over here, Fliss is unconscious." Cherry said as she took the elevator.

"CERISE!" Forte yelled as he still had his hands full.

"She's come back from the dead to haunt us." Estelle said.

Cherry, Forte, and Mo had to tell them about Mrs. Thornton and about her being kicked out.

"It's okay, honey..." Mo said to Estelle, but mostly to both her children.

"Madame Thornton is not dead," Forte said as he sat on Felicity's bed. "Believe me, I would know."

"That's right, she's just moving." Cherry confirmed.

"Moving!?" the three kids asked.

"Yes, the word on the street is that she can't pay her bills and the hotel is forcing her to move out the day after Christmas." Cherry explained.

"But, that's just horrible!" Estelle exclaimed.

"What happened to her money?" Akito asked.

"Just get some rest and try not to worry about it, dears... That was a nasty fall you three had..." Mo cooed as she tucked them back into their bed.

Forte decided to make some drinks for himself and the adult women. Felicity felt it was odd that Mrs. Thornton would let this happen, even if she didn't know the woman well. Akito, Estelle, and Felicity snuck out to go and give Mrs. Thornton towels and bars of soap.

In the hotel hallway, Eloise was also up and about in her robe and pajamas. She saw Akito, Estelle, and Felicity. "Hey, guys, couldn't sleep either?" 

"We heard that Madame Thornton is leaving after Christmas," Felicity replied. "Is this the truth?"

"That's what Nanny and Giselle told me," Eloise shrugged. "So it's gotta be."

"Let's leave her these towels and bars of soap." Estelle said.

"Nice idea, compliments from us, even if she's a miserable grouch." Eloise agreed.

"Yeah." Akito said.

Eloise, Felicity, Estelle, and Akito gathered the soap and towels in front of Mrs. Thornton's door. She knocked on it and was about to run away with her friends, but this time, she decided to stay put until she would get an answer from the woman. The same went for Akito, Estelle, and Felicity. 

The kids were then allowed in. They then entered inside. The kids went in the dimly lit room and looked around as they tried to spot Mrs. Thornton. As they came in, they heard the woman's voice, but to their surprise it sounded gentle and the dog Mona was lying calmly by the fireplace. The woman was looking at a framed picture and had mentioned the man in it had died and they were real close before his miserable and tragic death.

"Oh, my..." Estelle whispered.

Eloise had a small look of sympathy.

"Maybe we should go back to our rooms and tell our parents?" Felicity suggested as quietly as possible.

"Yeah no wait we need to confront abody." Esttelle replied.

"Who?" Eloise and Akito asked.

"Sorry, I meant to say Mr. Peabody." Estelle said.

"It's very late now," Akito reminded her. "We might get in trouble for waking him up now."

"He has a point." Eloise slowly nodded in agreement.

"Alright, then, we'll go and confront him in the morning." Estelle said.

"Come on, we better get back before Mom, Uncle Forte and Aunt Cherry notice we're gone." Akito said quickly.

"Yeah." Estelle said.

Eloise went back to her nanny and Giselle while Akito, Estelle, and Felicity went back to Cherry, Mo, and Forte. And where the next morning the four did what they decided to do they went to Mr. Peabody's office. Everyone got dressed and met Eloise as she held Weenie who was now wearing a ballerina tutu and a puffy white onesy with pink polka dots. 

"You guys ready?" Eloise asked.

"Um, why is your chein dressed like the ballerina performer?" Felicity was confused.

"Weenie is going to be part of our plan," Eloise explained. "He'll get Cornelia out of her desk and then we can go to see Mr. Peabody without any trouble."

"Great." Estelle said.

"You sure that dog knows what it's doing?" Akito sounded cautious.

"Ah, Weenie's done this lots of times." Eloise let her pug down on the floor.

Weenie then walked towards where Cornelia's desk was and was coming toward it and would climb up and put the envelope in his mouth and go off with it, making the woman chase after him and leave her desk.

"Okay, Cornelia is chasing after Weenie for the envelope, let's go." Akito said.

Eloise, Akito, Estelle, and Felicity made their way to the office.


	5. Chapter 5

"Mr. Peabody!" Eloise slammed her tiny hands on the desk.

"Oh, no..." Mr. Peabody moaned again at the sight of the little girl.

"You can't just kick Mrs. Thornton out!" Estelle did the same.

"Where's Cornelia?" Mr. Peabody ignored their comments.

"She had to retrieve her paycheck," Eloise smiled innocently. 

"Now, about Madame Thornton..." Felicity brought back up.

"Children, it is not your concern." Mr. Peabody sneered at them.

"But it's so unfair that horrible Mrs. Thornton's son died and that someone's been taking all their money!" Eloise became animated with anger and sadness now.

"Children, there never was any money!" Mr. Peabody told the four of them sharply.

"What do you mean?" Estelle asked.

Mr. Peabody explained what he could about Mrs. Thornton's issue and returned back to his desk, hoping and praying in silence that the children would simply leave him alone. The kids then looked at Rachel's picture.

"Do you believe in true love, Mr. Peabody?" Eloise asked as she looked at the picture, glancing at Akito slightly, then looked back at the hotel owner. 

"What kind of question is that?" Mr. Peabody asked as he wrote on some important papers for himself.

"We just meant, well, she looks so happy there..." Akito glanced at the picture of Rachel. "Some people think only a smile like that only happens when they're in love." He did the same, he glanced at Eloise slightly and then turned back to the owner.

"I suppose that's the matter of opinion." Mr. Peabody mumbled.

"Oui, probably, but she smiles really differently now." Felicity remarked.

"Yeah." Estelle agreed.

Mr. Peabody looked back to them softly.

"Anyways, we'll let you get back to your work." Estelle said.

Mr. Peabody looked at his daughter's picture one last time as the kids were leaving. 

"Hm, Cornelia or Weenie still haven't come back." Eloise saw the desk that was still empty.

"Shall we wait?" Felicity shrugged.

"Maybe, hopefully it won't be that Cornelia woman." Akito replied.

"Yeah." Estelle agreed.

The four kids decided to wait at the desk, Cornelia was luckily still not there. 

Eloise decided to put her feet up and maybe talk with her new friends. "So, what're your homes like back where you all come from?"

"A little lonely," Felicity rubbed her arm. "Maman usually travels around the world on adventures and Papa is playing his organ. We do not have any neighbors, but usually go out together on times like this to spend some real family time together since Maman did not come back until I was almost eight years old."

"Oh, my..." Eloise said.

"What about you two?" Eloise asked the twins.

"Our mother homeschools us," Akito explained. "Our dad's usually around, but since he's a detective, he's called away from home a lot. But we have a lot of cool family members besides Aunt Cherry and Uncle Forte."

"Wait, so, then, you don't have any friends back home?" Eloise asked.

"We don't really have many friends," Estelle replied softly. "We make some when we go away with Mom and Dad, but not really any friends of our own, but we got Felicity, she's our friend, but she's like family since Dad's known Aunt Cherry for a long time."

"I kinda know how you feel," Eloise continued to lean in the chair. "Margarita, one of the maids, has a daughter who only comes on the weekends and I have this friend Yuko who plays violin in Carnegie Hall, but we got to have loads of fun, there was also this girl Debbie who got to be in a movie in Hollywood, and I made a few friends for when I tried to go to school, but it just didn't work out, so I returned to my tutoring in the afternoons in the hotel, but since it's Christmas, I got time off from him."

"What a big life you lead, Eloise." Felicity sounded interested and amazed of what the girl went through in her life living in the hotel without her mother and sister around.

"What about your dad?" Estelle asked.

"Who? Mine?" Eloise pointed to herself, making sure they was talking to her.

"Yeah." Estelle said.

Eloise paused to think. "I don't think I have one..."

"But, if I remember, one of the lessons that Mom taught us, there's always got to be a dad to let there be a child born." Akito said.

Eloise looked distant a moment. "I don't know... Maybe I could ask Nanny or Giselle..."

Weenie came back with the envelope in his mouth and climbed up to be with his young mistress, making her smile.

"Well, we better go before she gets here." Estelle said.

"Come on, let's go." Akito said as Eloise took her dog and they could go off.

They then passed Cornelia.

"Bye Cornelia!" Eloise said as she carried Weenie and was going to take her new friends to the hotel kitchen while the woman looked like she had been to hell and back.

"So, what now?" Estelle asked.

"Come with me," Eloise told them, taking them into the kitchen. "I'm the special reserved taste tester, the chef always lets me try something before he perfects it and he should let you all too! Hopefully Edwin isn't visiting the hotel today..." 

The kids had to wonder who this Edwin was, but from the way Eloise talked about him, he must not have been very pleasant.

They then entered the kitchen. Eloise quickly introduced her friends to the cooks in the kitchen and they were given free samples of the best fine dining desserts they could ever hope for. 

"This is awesome!" Akito marveled.

Felicity moaned happily, nodding in agreement.

"Ooh, deserts." Estelle said.

"You must know something." Eloise demanded from the chef about what they knew about Mrs. Thornton and the issues that had been spreading along the hotel.

"Why don't you ask Bill yourself?" the chef suggested.

"Ask me what?" Bill asked as he put some things in the sink to wash.

Estelle told Bill what they wanted.

"Nothing to tell," Bill shrugged. "That was four years ago."

"Really?" Estelle asked.

"Four years can seem very long, but not when it comes to true love," Eloise insisted. "That was it, wasn't it?" 

"It was a long time ago, kids." Bill smiled at them, then walked off to take people's orders as they were sitting in the dining hall.

"We've gotta do something." Estelle said.

Felicity could see something. "That is queer..."

"What is it?" Eloise looked back at her.

"I can swear I see Monsieur Oliver through this tiny crack..." Felicity whispered to her friends.

"Really?" Akito asked. "What's he doing?"

"Just sitting there..." Felicity blinked. "I do not know if Rachel is there with him or not."

"We have to find out and I have a way to do it," Eloise said, then whispered something to the chef.

"I don't think you all can fit under this dessert cart." the chef sounded hesitant and it looked true, the twins were seven and Felicity was eight and a half while six-year-old Eloise could easily fit no problem.

"Then two of us will have to go in the dessert cart, I'll go with Eloise." Akito said.

"What about us?" Estelle asked about her and Felicity.

"Mmm... Here, put zhese on." the chef gave them junior chef coats and hats to blend in. 

Eloise already climbed into the dessert cart. Akito joined her. When Felicity and Estelle buttoned their coats, they followed the chef out as he wheeled the cart with Eloise and Akito hiding inside. 

Brooks was indeed there and chatting with someone, but the conversation ceased as the chef came to their table. 

"Desserts gentlemen, compliments of the hotel." the chef told them in his thick accent and walked off to allow them to pick what they would want to eat.

'This is perfect, now we can hear what they're saying.' Akito thought.

Eloise, Akito, Felicity and Estelle listened in on Brooks' private conversation which sounded so secret that it had to be illegal. Brooks even mentioned that once he and Rachel get married, he'll 'lose' their money on purpose and it was only for his personal gain. This did not sound good.

"Why, that no good, dirty, rotten jerk!" Estelle said out loud.

Brooks and the other man looked around.

"Excuse me, ma'am, did you say something?" Brooks asked Estelle.

"Non, she was just thinking out loud about someone else, Monsieur." Felicity covered up to avoid her and her friends getting in trouble.

"The sooner we get out of her, the sooner we warn Mr. Peabody." Eloise whispered to Akito.

"Yeah and the sooner the better." Akito said, whispering.

After being able to get away, Felicity, Eloise, Estelle, and Akito ran down the hall back to Peabody's office yet again.

Cornelia folded her arms, glancing at the four of them, looking impatient and tired of their tricks. 

"Cornelia, we need to see Mr. Peabody right away!" Eloise shrieked.

"One of your cute little pranks this time?" Cornelia raised an eyebrow, staring them all down.

"No, this is serious!" Estelle said.

Eloise groaned in frustration, then walked from her and to her surprise, there was a very tall man standing over her with an ear piece.

Felicity looked a little startled. 

"Okay, we're sorry, lady, but there's something Mr. Peabody really needs to know!" Estelle exclaimed.

"OUT!" Cornelia pointed them away.

The kids just sighed out in frustration. The kids went their separate ways to warn their parents and guardians about the problems.

Mo was placing Christmas presents from relatives under their tree while Forte was sitting in a rocking chair with a book and Cherry had a blanket over her chest again to feed Simon. That is when Akito, Estelle, and Felicity came rushing in.

Cherry looked up as she kept Simon firmly around her bosom. "Have fun, kids?"

"Flick, no running..." Forte sharply told his daughter.

"Oui, sorry, Papa..." Felicity said softly with her arms behind her back.

"What's happening?" Mo looked concerned with Akito and Estelle. Did things not go well with Eloise?

"Mr. Brooks is not the right guy for Rachel!" Estelle said.

"This again?" Mo sighed. "Honey, they're getting married and it's their decision, it's not right for you and your brother to interfere."

"Yeah, but he's worse than we thought!" Akito added. 

"Oui, Maman and Papa, he is the bad man!" Felicity included.

"It's none of your business and it's going to happen, why can't you three accept this?" Cherry sounded very impatient with their meddling, even though it was really true.

"But, he's going to cause Rachel's family to lose money!" Estelle exclaimed.

This caught all three of the adults' attention.

Cherry's eyes were wide, but she went back to her stoic, expressionless face. "And how, pray explain, do you know this?" She put her hands on her hips.

Felicity's lips quivered. Dare she admit to her mother that she eavesdropped with her friends?

"I spied on him and heard everything." Estelle said.

"You spied!?" Forte shouted.

"We only did it because we were suspicious of him!" Felicity cried out.

"Flick, we told you a thousand times to never do that..." Cherry put her palm to her face.

"Estelle, Akito, I'm surprised at you two!" Mo sounded scolding, but wasn't as firm as Cherry or Forte with their parenting.

"We're really sorry." Estelle said.

"Promise us you won't say anything about this heinous wrongdoing." Forte stated firmly.

Akito sighed that they weren't being believed and in slight trouble. "Okay, we promise."

They then went to go find Eloise.

Nanny had just finished having the same discussion with Eloise and made her pinkie promise to never say anything either. Felicity knocked on their room door.

Giselle opened the door, wearing her robe. "Oh, is something wrong?" She asked, wondering why the kids had come late to see her little sister.

"No, we just wanted to see if Eloise could come with us." Estelle said.

"It's very late and Nanny's sent her to her bed," Giselle explained. "Is it an emergency?"

"Sil vous plait, Giselle, we must see her." Felicity spoke up while Akito nodded in agreement. 

"Oh, I don't know..." Giselle went back inside for a moment to talk with Nanny about allowing Akito, Estelle, and Felicity to go see Eloise.

"Please, it's about Mr. Brooks, he's not the one for Rachel." Estelle said.

Giselle and Nanny exchanged glances.

"Make it quick." Nanny told them firmly, but not nasty. 

"Merci, Madame Nounou." Felicity curtsied, then went with Akito and Estelle to Eloise's place in the suite where she slept and where she was found in her bed.

"Eloise...?" Felicity called over.

"Hi, guys." Eloise was on her bed, surrounded by what looked like thousands of stuffed animals.

"Your nanny and sis made you promise the same thing too right?" Akito asked.

"Nanny made me pinkie promise, promise, promise to never say anything again." Eloise informed.

"Did she say anything about doing something though?" Estelle asked.

Eloise paused to think, then smiled. "You're right, I never promised I wouldn't do anything!"

"Neither did we." Akito said.

Eloise grinned in excitement.

"Looks like we got to do something." Felicity also grinned.

"Yep." Estelle said.

"Come on, let's go then." Eloise told her friends as she got out of the stuffed animal pile and joined them.

"Yeah." Estelle said.

Nanny and Giselle had on a movie as they sat on the couch together as the kids were getting out from Eloise's bedroom and they made sure not to wake either of them up. Eloise reminded her friends to keep quiet as they were stealthing under Nanny and Giselle's noses.

"You want tea?" Giselle asked the older woman.

"That would be lovely, dear." Nanny beamed to her.

Giselle nodded, then went to get some tea from the kitchen. Luckily she hadn't seen Eloise, Akito, Estelle, or Felicity.

"Whew." Estelle thought.

The kids were close to the door. However, Nanny had gotten up from the couch to show she had been sitting with another person besides Giselle for the movie.

'Who's that?' Estelle thought.

Eloise saw the man and decided to simply sit with him while Nanny was away. And where Akito, Estelle, and Felicity were still hiding. The man told them, mostly Eloise at how he was getting a nice expensive piece for Nanny's Christmas present.

Eloise smiled. "Nanny already has loads of hair pins." She said, then walked away.

"She does?" Estelle asked.

Eloise looked to her with a shrug.

"Why did you say that to that man?" Felicity asked.

"Just did," Eloise shuffled. "Maybe we should see Nanny before we leave..."

"Yeah." Estelle said.

Nanny was in her room with Giselle at the mirror, trying to get a stain out.

"Miss Nanny, have you ever been wooed?" Akito asked.

Nanny blinked, a little surprised at the question and gave a shrug. "Well, I suppose I have been testy once or twice, but only if someone really deserved it."

"Not woo, wooed." Eloise retorted.

Nanny now understood.

"We mean if a man wanted to go buy property what should he do first?" Felicity asked.

"Yeah." Estelle agreed.

"Where are we going to get roses?" Akito asked.

"I believe the hotel has some in the dining room for Christmas," Eloise stated. "They did it the years before, I don't see why they wouldn't do it again. We'll gather some and send them to Rachel first thing tomorrow morning."

"Right." the others agreed.

"We better hurry before it closes." Eloise suggested.

"Yeah." Akito said.

The kids did just that as soon as they could and gathered the roses and decided to leave them at Rachel's door, but made it anonymous as they hid in the stairs door after they placed it there and knocked on the door. The door then opened and Rachel came out. Rachel looked around, but took the flowers with gratefulness and went back into her room to put them up and had a cheerful smile. The kids' plan worked and they ran off as soon as Rachel kept walking, never seeing them. 

"Now, I also heard she's going to be fitted into wedding dresses, let's catch up with her." Eloise said to her friends.

"Oh, but it is a superstition to see a bride before her wedding..." Felicity sounded worried.

"That only gets to be for the groom." Akito said.

"Oh." Felicity sounded calm now.


	6. Chapter 6

Eloise and the others then went to Rachel as she was being fitted and they greeted her.

"Hello, guys," Rachel smiled at them and did a twirl. "What do you think?"

"You look beautiful." Estelle said.

"Very glowing." Akito agreed.

Felicity only smiled, not sure what to say, she was speechless with how beautiful she looked.

Eloise concentrated, imitating her mother when it came to fashion. "You look fine in that gown, only I think that... Well... Umm... Don't you think you're rushing into things a little?"

Rachel raised an eyebrow. "You mean for the wedding? Three days ago you thought it was the most romantic thing you ever heard."

"Well, yeah, she did, but don't you wanna know the guy first and get to know more about him?" Akito asked.

"You should also go for something short..." Eloise said as she looked at the shorter displayed dresses. "Like something like this for example! Bill would love it." she took out a shorter pink dress that came with gloves, but the other woman took it.

Rachel smiled softly. "You're quite fond of him, aren't you?"

"He is quite funny and charming." Felicity had to agree.

"And he's my best friend!" Eloise then gushed, jumping on the stand next to Rachel.

"He's a magnificent actor and great on the piano." Akito and Estelle said in unison.

"And no matter how tired, he'll always play on the piano!" Eloise chirped.

"Oh, those show tunes!" Rachel beamed, that seemed to win her over. "What was the one I liked so much? It was from Gypsy..."

"That's my favorite too!" Eloise gushed, walking with Rachel and her new friends.

"He has also played the Swan Lake for Estelle." Felicity put in.

"Yep." Estelle said as she showed Rachel her amazing dancing skills.

Rachel really loved it and even helped Estelle a little and caught her after the little girl did a spin and they all shared a laugh. 

"Oh, he could make me laugh so hard with that..." Rachel smiled, remembering the good times she shared with Bill. "I'd sneak down after the parties were over and we'd play together, just the two of us, and I remember this one time we..." she smiled, but then stopped herself.

Eloise smiled in excitement, but her smile quickly disappeared. 

"It doesn't really matter now..." Rachel walked off. "We've both moved on..."

"Yeah, I guess, right, Eloise?" Akito asked Eloise.

Eloise shrugged and walked with her friends. "Now, if only we could just figure out who his girlfriend is..." She made gestures to her friends to play along so Rachel wouldn't seem suspicious.

"His girlfriend?" Rachel jumped in.

"We don't know for sure, but this morning we were in the kitchen and heard an order called through the phone and what else could we think?" Estelle made this up as she went along. "You don't send red roses to just anyone."

"Yeah, it might be simple, but still romantic." Akito said.

"Red roses?" Rachel sounded intrigued.

"From a secret admirer..." Eloise whispered. 

Rachel thought about it and had a sweet smile.

"Rachel?" a familiar voice called out. 

"I better get out of this dress." Rachel said quickly, which showed Felicity the superstition of seeing the bride before the wedding.

"Secre bleu, invader!" Felicity called in an accusatory tone.

"Yeah." Estelle said.

"I'll be out in a minute!" Rachel called as she went behind the changing veil. "You remember Eloise, Felicity, Akito, and Estelle, don't you?"

"Why of course, how could I forget?" Brooks smiled at them as they sat together. He then went to talk to Rachel, much to the kids' annoyance.

'If only Rachel knew what this guy was really like.' Estelle thought.

The kids watched Brooks talk with Rachel, they just knew it wasn't meant to be.

'How can we get Rachel and Bill alone?' Estelle thought.

Eloise was trying to think of ways Estelle was thinking.

"There has got to be something..." Felicity murmured to herself.

"Don't forget about our appointment with Prunella," Rachel called as Brooks was leaving. "At 4:00!"

"Right, see you then." Brooks nodded, then walked off, glancing at the kids, then went out of the dress room.

That gave Akito and Estelle a brilliant idea, they then whispered their idea to Eloise and Felicity. Eloise and Felicity listened and then agreed, deciding to go to Prunella right then.

"Hello!" Eloise greeted, her arms folded on the woman's desk.

Prunella glanced at the four of them, then looked back down to her papers. "Goodbye."

"We just wanted to let you know that we found something ice I believe." Estelle said.

"Goody for you..." Prunella murmured.

"The hugest ice sculpture we've ever seen!" Eloise spread her arms.

"What?" Prunella then paid attention. "Is it in the gold room?"

"I do not believe it was, Madame..." Felicity shrugged.

"Maybe you should check it out." Akito suggested.

Prunella then quickly left her desk. Akito then went in to find Prunella's schedule book. Eloise closed the desk once the four of them were alone together.

"Here." Felicity handed Akito the pencil to make a few changes in the schedule.

Luckily the later time was a couple of hours after Rachel and Brooks' real appointment time so Prunella wouldn't think it was far fetched a later time would be earlier than she would think it would be. After they got the time on her schedule book changed, it was now time for them to go and see Bill.

"We just checked the terrace is free all day so it'll absolutely be the perfect time to teach us that new song on the piano." Estelle told Bill as the others in the kitchen were rushing.

"You've been really thinking, huh?" Bill asked as he placed the silver tops on the platters.

"Please, I wanna play it for my mother when she gets home!" Eloise called, following Bill as he pushed a travel cart of food. "As a Christmas present! It can be a surprise for Giselle too since she's on vacation from 'boring school'!"

"Yeah." Akito said.

Bill thought about it for a moment. "What time?"

"3:45 and don't be late!" Eloise emphasized. "Come on, guys!" she skipped off with her new friends.

Felicity stopped as she saw a very good looking chocolate cake. "Ooh, la la~"

Eloise looked back at it and smiled as she thought of something else. "Come on, guys, to the elevator, quickly! Estelle, Akito, one of you get the cake!"

Akito grabbed the cake, knowing what Eloise had in mind. Max let the kids out of the elevator as they got to Rachel's floor again. Akito had ran to the door, left the cake, knocked on the door and hid with his sister and friends.

"Yes, who is it?" Rachel called from behind the door, but there was no answer, so she had to open the door and see for herself.

"Great work, guys, I'm going to check in with Nanny and Giselle." Eloise smiled, then went to the elevator to get to the top floor where she lived.

Felicity, Estelle, and Akito decided to go in as Cherry and Forte were lounging by the fire and had Simon close by them as he was concentrating on his first steps, but stumbled ever so often. Mo smiled as she had the presents from their distant relatives and was hoping the kids were excited to see them. The kids then came in.

"Ah, Flick, there you are, we've barely seen you..." Cherry greeted her daughter.

Felicity came and lie in between her parents, looking a little exhausted.

"I bet I know who the bigger presents are for." Mo smiled at Akito and Estelle as there were also presents for her and Atticus, but there were bigger ones for Akito and Estelle.

"We'll open them later, right now, we need a little nap." Akito said.

"My, what have you children been doing with this Eloise girl?" Forte asked.

"Just a lot of playing around..." Estelle said quickly. 

"Mm..." Cherry felt something suspicious in the air.

"Anyways, do not disturb us until somewhere before 3:45." Estelle said.

The adults wondered why that specific time and let their children rest. The kids then took their nap. The adults then left with Simon to another part of the room while the kids caught up on a little rest. After a few minutes, the kids woke up.

The first thing the kids saw was the early Christmas presents under the tree. It was so tempting about touching them until Christmas morning. They couldn't wait that long. And so, they sneaked over to the presents. Felicity stayed put, not really paying attention. Akito and Estelle could see gifts from their Aunt Jessica, Aunt Darla, and Uncle Jim Junior.

"Cool." Estelle whispered.

Akito took one for him and shook it by his ear. "I gotta know what it is!"

"Non, you have to wait!" Felicity told her 'cousins'.

"Oh, come on, please..." Estelle asked, using her puppy dog eyes.

"It's an American kid, thing, Fliss..." Akito added.

Felicity sighed. "Okay, as long as you promise Tante Monique you will not get into trouble for doing this right now."

"We won't get into trouble." Estelle said.

"Okay, be opening your presents then." Felicity sat on the couch next to her baby brother as he was sprawling.

Akito and Estelle went over and opened one present. Estelle did the same, opening the special one that was from Darla, she was not their aunt biologically despite being Atticus's sister like Jim Junior was to Mo. Darla was adopted into the Fudo family and Mo was adopted into Jim's family, but both loved their niece and nephew regardless of bloodline. 

"Oh, wow!" Estelle beamed, taking out a frilly white leotard with a feathery tutu with a swan head from Aunt Darla and it even came with ballet slippers and tights since Darla knew how much the girl had loved to preform for Swan Lake someday. "Akito, look at what Auntie Darla got me!"

"Cool." Akito said.

Next was Akito's turn. Estelle waited excitedly for her brother's turn at opening presents. Akito then opened one of his presents. Estelle smiled as she went to the nearby mirror and looked at herself in it with the leotard, but not actually wearing it. She was then wondering if she could ask her aunt to give her some dance lessons. Akito came out with a detective's hat. 

"Oh, they are wonderful gifts." Felicity smiled at the two.

"Yeah." Akito said.

"You think Auntie Darla would let me into her school for a big show someday?" Estelle asked in excitement.

"I am sure she will give you a chance." Felicity encouraged.

"Yeah." Akito said.

Estelle smiled at her present, really happy that she had earned it. Felicity saw a present for her, but she decided to keep it in its place under the tree until Christmas Eve where they would all open one of their presents before bed and wake up the next morning for more. 

"It's almost time." Akito said.

"Ah, Christmas... Such a precious holiday, yet my parents have mixed feelings for it..." Felicity sighed as she held Simon in her arm and he looked like he wanted to kill the fly that had gotten in their room from flying into an open window.

It was almost time.

Cherry answered the phone and went to the main room where the kids were. "I hope you all aren't too tired from your little 'adventure', but Eloise is expecting you three... She has something to show you."

"We'll be right there." Akito said.

Cherry took Simon from Felicity. "Remember, no more monkey business."

"But Maman, there are no primates in this hotel..." Felicity spoke up.

Cherry face-palmed, rubbing the frame between her glasses. "It's just an expression, sweetie... Si's going down for a nap and we're all going to finish wrapping gifts." She walked away in the distance.

"Your mother is so scary sometimes..." Akito muttered to Felicity.

"I know." Felicity agreed.

"Come on, we better find Eloise." Estelle said.

They then went out to find Eloise.

Eloise quickly gathered them and showed them the spy kit she was given for Christmas and they would use it to spy on and stalk on Brooks Oliver and get proof that he is not the man of Rachel's dreams. 

"To the lobby!" Eloise proclaimed quietly, then left with them to get to the main floor of the hotel and start their spying expedition.

"This is going to be fun spying." Estelle said.

Eloise took out the binoculars and looked all around the lobby as there were adults just sitting and lounging, blissfully unaware of the four spies lurking about despite Mr. Salamone's strict warning towards Eloise about no bothering or activity of any kind to disturb the guests in the lobby or any other room of the building.

"Where is he?" Estelle asked.

"Keep looking..." Felicity told Eloise.

"Trying," Eloise replied as she kept scanning the room for their number one main suspect. She finally found him sitting at a table with a couple other men and had cards in his hands. "Aha!"

"Is he playing poker?" Akito asked.

"What other card games do adults play?" Estelle asked, a little sarcastically.

Eloise looked, removing the binoculars and now had to think of a plan to sabotage the game, but she was told to never interrupt an adult's game. "Hmm... What to do?"

"I know." Akito said after getting an idea. He then whispers his idea into Eloise's ear.

Eloise listened carefully while Estelle and Felicity wondered what the plan was. Eloise then folded up a piece of paper like Akito told her to and asked for the slingshot from Estelle who then in return handed it to her as part of their scheme. Felicity scooted out of the way with Akito and Estelle. Eloise pulled back the elastic on the slingshot and flung the paper away from them and against the bartender all the way across the room. 

The plan was working like a charm as the bartender read the folded piece of paper. The bartender read it aloud as soon as he could open it up, wondering where it came from. However, he left the bar and went to the table where Brooks was with his possible friends. After Brooks revealed himself, the bartender gave him the folded up paper and walked off, leaving Brooks to open it up and read what it had wanted. 

Eloise saw this and quickly put the binoculars back up to continue her spying and she saw their plan worked perfecty. Brooks opened up the note and read it to himself about the 'unscheduled' change of plans made by 'Prunella'. Eloise, Estelle, Akito, and Felicity smiled as their plan had worked. 

"Come on, let's go." Eloise whispered to her friends to get moving.

They left the lobby.

Eloise remembered something and went to meet Bill at the piano. "You guys wanna come?"

"Yes." All three of them said.

"Come on, let's go then." Eloise had them follow her.


	7. Chapter 7

Bill was sitting on the piano bench, waiting patiently for Eloise and smiled, even if she had company, he didn't mind as well. The kids then entered. 

"Hello, Eloise and friends." Bill smiled at the four of them. "Eloise, ready?"

"Yes, Bill, my friends want to stay and watch, I hope that's okay." Eloise chirped.

"Oh, of course, take your seats while I help Eloise, okay, guys?" Bill smiled at them, anxious to start, he was one of the few people in the hotel who had patience and respect for the trouble making little girl.

The kids took their seats. Bill then sat with Eloise to help her with the piano playing and he started to sing the song. Eloise looked around every other few minutes and Bill would have to turn her around and put her back against the keyboard. Estelle watched out for Rachel so then she could give Eloise the signal that Rachel was there. Eloise was pulled back again and having to use her focus and fingers on the ivory and ebony keyboard.

That was when Rachel now did indeed come into the room. Bill looked over and looked very shocked and nervous to see the woman. Their plan worked, all was left was for the kids to leave the two alone while still watching from a far distance. Rachel smiled, a little surprised, but still not annoyed and went to speak with Bill. Eloise whispered some advice to Bill, then dashed off with her friends as Bill and Rachel played piano and talked together.

"This plan was a brilliant plan." Estelle whispered.

It really seemed that way as the kids watched Bill and Rachel. Bill was no doubt really into Rachel, but the question was if Rachel felt the same way or not. He had finished another piece and smiled to his long-awaited crush. Rachel then sang in solo as Bill played another tune for the girl he liked.

"Our plan is working." Estelle whispered.

The others gave a nod, it seemed like things were now going their way. It looked like Bill and Rachel were about to kiss, but then they both got up together and shared a dance. 

"Aw! How romantic." Estelle whispered.

Bill even got romantic with the dancing in a tango fashion and even dipped Rachel on the stage. However, Prunella was standing there and looked shocked and angry at the scene. 

"Not her..." Felicity murmured.

"Oh, come on!" Estelle whispered.

Prunella started to bark orders, forcing Bill to turn Rachel right side up. He even helped her down and felt stupid and scared in front of the very strict woman.

"Please, let this get better." Estelle asked quietly.

Prunella scolded Bill.

"Don't you dare speak to him like that!" Rachel stood up against her. "Bill happens to be a very close friend of mine whom I asked to meet because YOU were an hour late to our meeting."

The four kids bit their lips then.

Prunella looked to her watch, taken aback. "I-I beg your pardon..."

"Not mine, his..." Rachel demanded.

The kids were now loving this scene.

Prunella felt she had no other choice. "I-I apologize..."

Eloise smirked and looked back to her friends. "Please tell me you're loving this as much as I am." 

Felicity giggled in response. Estelle giggled in response as well.

"I know I am." Akito smirked.

Eloise blushed when Akito smirked to her.

Rachel kept gently telling Prunella off for scolding Bill for such things. "Thank you for a wonderful time." She smiled fondly to the man, then she walked off. 

Bill had an innocent smile as Prunella looked back to him. Before the kids would know it, it would be time for dinner and back to bed for the night.

"Well, we'll see you tomorrow then." Akito said as he bowed to Eloise.

"See you tomorrow." Eloise smiled as she rode the rest of the elevator after they got off at their floor.

Felicity, Akito, and Estelle waved to their friend, then went to get to their own room with their own families. 

The next day Cherry was in a chair, all dressed with her hair perfectly groomed down as she had Simon in front of her bosom again. "Good morning..."

"Bon matin, Maman..." Felicity yawned as she passed her. 

"Estelle, wake up!" Akito shook his sister awake. "I just realized what today is!"

"Christmas eve?" Estelle asked, tired.

"Christmas Eve Eve," Akito explained. "It's December 23rd!"

"Oh, right." Estelle said.

There were a bit more presents under their room tree now.

"Good morning, children." Forte greeted Akito and Estelle as he helped Mo make them some breakfast before they'd go running off today.

"What's for breakfast?" Estelle asked.

"Hard boiled eggs with some bacon and biscuits." Mo answered with a smile.

Felicity was puzzled how to eat this egg, but she quickly dove in after Cherry cracked it gently with a knife to show the inside was soft and edible.

"Cool." Estelle said.

"Did you kids like your presents?" Cherry asked.

"I have not yet opened any for moi." Felicity informed.

Akito and Estelle looked to each other.

Mo had a small smirk. "Akito, Estelle, have you opened yours early?"

"Yes." Estelle and Akito admitted in defeat.

"Oh, sweeties..." Mo coaxed. "Couldn't resist, huh? Well, it can be our little secret, I won't tell Dad."

"Yay!" Estelle and Akito said.

Mo chuckled at them, then sipped her morning coffee. Felicity nibbled at her food a little, not really needing to eat it for energy. Akito did eat his food, but he was thinking of Eloise the whole time. 

Estelle didn't know what Akito was thinking, but since they were twins, sometimes she could feel something going on with him, even if she didn't know what it was. "Whatcha thinkin' about, bro?" she nudged him a little.

"Huh? What did you say, sis?" Akito asked, for once not paying attention.

Estelle smirked. "There's a girl, isn't there?"

"Is our little Akito smitten?" Felicity joined in the slight teasing. 

Mo didn't pay much attention to her children's conversation as she talked with Cherry and Forte about their Christmas plans since Atticus was still out for the holiday.

"Wha-What?" Akito asked while he blushed. "What makes you think that?"

Estelle giggled.

"You ARE into liking someone!" Felicity giggled as well. "I bet it is that Eloise girl..." 

"I think you're right." Estelle agreed.

"Yes, it's true." Akito said.

Felicity and Estelle awed, giggling a bit at Akito's expense.

"This Eloise must be an interesting girl." Mo was curious now.

"According to Alphonse, she's a little devil with blonde locks." Forte chuckled himself.

"Alphonse?" Akito asked, then exclaimed from anger. "A devil? No way!"

"That's Mr. Salamone's first name," Cherry explained. "We learned that from this snotty little brat Edwin who's his nephew."

"Cerise, do not mock the children," Forte scolded her, then he spoke under his breath. "Even though that child is a real pain in the derriere."

"Eloise is not a devil! She's an angel." Akito said from his heart.

"Calming down, now," Felicity giggled, even flailing her hands slightly. "Someone is too protective of their girlfriend right up here."

"She's not my girlfriend, at least, not yet, I just wanna ask her to be my girlfriend at the right time." Akito said, going back to eating.

The girls continued to giggle.

"That's so adorable." Mo smiled fondly. 

Felicity finished what she could and decided to wash up her parents' dishes as she was raised that way. After she was finished with the dishes, they went out to meet up with Eloise, also after Akito got himself to look great for Eloise.

Eloise was just on her way to the front desk after having scared a bunch of people in the elevator again except for Max.

"Hey, Eloise." Estelle, Akito, and Felicity said.

'Beautiful as ever.' Akito thought.

Eloise turned over and smiled as she saw her friends. "Hiya, guys!"

"So, where do you wanna go today?" Akito asked.

"I'm going to check my mail since it's Christmas Eve Eve." Eloise explained, sounding very excited.

"Great." Akito said.

Felicity, Estelle, and Akito went with her. Eloise banged on the ring on the front desk, making the hotel manager swipe it from her so he wouldn't get a migraine.

"Good morning, Mr. Salamone!" Eloise chirped like a bird on a clear spring morning.

"Good morning, Mr. Salamone." Akito said through his teeth.

"Yes, good morning..." Estelle forced herself to say.

"Bon matin, Monsieur." Felicity gave a nod.

"Eloise, what are you and your little friends doing now?" Mr. Salamone asked, slightly annoyed, but tried not to sound angry with them.

"Any packages for me from my mother?" Eloise asked as she spread her arms out. "Preferably huge like this big?"

"For her daughter, an angel, and not a devil, Eloise?" Akito asked and even said forcely the word devil through his teeth.

"No, but I'll keep my eyes open." Mr. Salamone replied casually, letting what Akito said slide. 

"See ya later then!" Eloise beamed, then went off with her friends, passing a hotel employee named Phil.

There was another girl who looked around Felicity's age who was holding a fluffy white dog.

"Aw! Cute." Estelle beamed

The girl smiled at them, allowing them to pet her dog.

Eloise saw something in the distance. "Guys, come on." she told her friends and they quickly moved.

"What is it?" Estelle asked.

Eloise gestured to show the table with familiar people, she then snuck by a different table, snatched their newspaper and had the others hide as she sat in a chair with the paper up to hide herself. Brooks was talking with another man while Rachel was also listening. The woman admitted she had a lot on her mind, but Brooks assured her that after tomorrow, things would be all okay. Yeah, right. 

"Don't bet on it." Eloise muttered, glaring at Brooks.

"Yeah." Akito glared at Brooks.

"You big, no good, selfish jerk." Estelle glared at Brooks.

The man across from them was also watching Brooks, but as he saw the kids, he hid himself behind the paper which made Eloise do the same. What was with that guy? Brooks excused himself from the table and gave Rachel a kiss on the lips and walked away for a moment.

"What do we do now?" Estelle asked.

"I am not sure." Felicity said as Estelle shrugged.

Eloise looked at the paper again and had found there was a performance for Gypsy the musical. What an amazing coincidence. "Guys, I have another idea, but it involves the concierge." she whispered directly to them. 

"Why him?" Akito wondered.

"Come with me, I'll take you to him," Eloise said as they snuck away. "The absolute best person to go to when you need something, and aren't to get it yourself, is the concierge. Ours is named Walter, he speaks seven languages and is always very nice to me, because here's the thing: He has a large crush on my mother. Which is about to come in quite handy."

"Great." Akito said.

Eloise helped herself to sitting on Walter's desk. "Good morning, Walter!"

"Hello, Eloise, what can I do for you and your cute little friends?" Walter smiled friendly to all of them.

"We need two tickets to see Gypsy, please." Estelle replied.

"Gypsy? Tonight?" Walter wanted to make sure he heard that right.

"Yes." Akito said.

"Oh, that could be very difficult..." Walter sounded a little grim. 

Felicity looked very disappointed.

"Oh, well, never mind then," Eloise shrugged. "I'll just tell Mother you did your best. Come on, guys."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Walter called for them before they could leave. "Let me make a phone call, see what I can do."

"Thank you." Akito said.

Walter got on the phone and started to dial the theater's number.

"Oh, by the way, schedule in a barber appointment." Eloise put in which got her a confused look. "I need a little trim."

"We'll be with her." Akito said.

"Oh, alright." Walter smiled, then continued to dial the number for the theater to get tickets for Eloise.

"See what I mean?" Eloise whispered to her friends as she used her mother's charm to get what she wanted.

"Yeah, we see what you mean." Estelle said.

"Now to the barber." Felicity then proclaimed.

The others went there in secret as Brooks was there at a chair to get taken care of.

'There he is, that jerk.' Estelle thought.

"The barber's name is Vincent, he's different, so he has trouble understanding the word 'stop', so why not?" Eloise whispered to her friends as they walked over. 

"Ah, Eloise!" the barber beamed, he seemed to be elderly. "Come in, come in! Bring your cute little friends, and who's this? Your boyfriend?" he gestured to Akito.

Felicity and Estelle giggled then. This made Eloise and Akito blush. Eloise then decided to get in her seat, though she was stubborn about it since she absolutely detested getting her hair cut even if it was for a good cause. Vincent went to take care of Eloise and put on a cloak around her neck like every other customer, but he offered to let her into the spa or give her a special bath. Felicity, Estelle, and Akito took seats away from the chairs.

"So, Eloise, tell me, you and your friends go special place for the holidays?" Vincent asked as he came to Brooks' side.

"No, we're too busy, right, Eloise?" Akito asked.

"Oh, he's so, so, so right, I couldn't spend Christmas anywhere other than the Plaza!" Eloise chirped. "Not with everything going on. There's one party after another!"

"Weddings, balls, the works!" Estelle added.

"Grande célébrations." Felicity helped. 

"There's even a Harvard Alliance party tonight!" Eloise beamed.

That seemed to catch Brooks' attention. "Did she say Harvard?"

"Oh, why, yes, she did." Akito said.

"You went there, did you not?" Felicity asked the man.

"You must be terribly excited," Eloise walked over with a friendly smile. "There's a bouncy ensemble, you know. I bet you can't wait to meet your school friends..."

"Well, a-a-actually..." Brooks stood up still with the cream around his face and took off his robe to bail out of the hotel's barber shop.

"Where are you going, sir?" Akito asked.

"I-I have a business call, I've been called out of town... I... I'm afraid I can't make it..." Brooks quickly left.

Estelle scoffed. "Typical."

Eloise smiled as their plan was working.

"Now to get to Bill." Akito said.

Bill was punching his card to take off for the night and wished everyone a Merry Christmas.

"Bill!" the four kids called to him, running towards him.

"Well, look who's come to see Vincent," Bill noticed Eloise had her hair slightly shorter. "How dare he trim the hair of such a fearsome pirate..."

"Yeah, yeah, we'll tell him off later." Estelle said.

"Have a good one, Bill." one worker told the man as he walked off.

"Thanks, Kevin." Bill smiled as he undid his bow tie.

"Have a good what?" the kids had to ask.

"Vacation," Bill explained with a smile. "I'm taking the train to Vermont for a couple of days."

"What?!" The kids exclaimed from shock.

"Not now!" Eloise cried out. "Not after all we went through to get you a Christmas present!" She then showed the tickets to Gypsy to go tonight. 

"Maybe the Rachel mademoiselle could go with you." Felicity gave a shrug.

"Look, kids," Bill bent down to their height. "I know what you're trying to do here..." He gave the tickets back and walked off with them still following him.

"Oh, come on, please." Estelle begged.

Eloise kept begging Bill about this and mentioned how he loved the theater and Brooks would be out by then.

"Sil vous plait, Monsieur William." Felicity put her hands together.

Bill went to wash his hands and looked at the kids apologetically. "Thank you, guys, it's a lovely gift."

"So, you'll take Rachel to the theater?" Estelle asked.

Bill looked down to them after drying his hands. "I'll ask her."

"And if she says 'yes'?" Eloise waved the tickets with a cheeky smile.

"I guess I could take her there." Bill smiled.

Eloise then hugged his neck gently, feeling satisfied. She then looked into a metal pot that showed her reflection and she sadly looked at her slightly shorter hair. "I look dumb, don't I?" 

"Non, you are fine." Felicity soothed.

"Yeah." Estelle said.

"You're just being nice..." Eloise said softly.

"I think you look prettier that way." Akito smiled at her.

Eloise blinked a little, blushing and looking back to him. "You really mean it?"

"Of course I mean it." Akito said.

Eloise covered her mouth, but her dimples were shown, she must have been smiling nervously, then put her hands together. "W-Why thank you, Akito... I-I... I'm gonna decorate our tree with Nanny and Giselle."

"Great." Akito said.

Eloise stumbled a little in her skipping, but then went to the top floor to decorate her Christmas tree with Nanny and Giselle like she said she would.


	8. Chapter 8

Akito, Estelle, and Felicity then decided to go to their own room as it had been decorated for the holiday season and the tree was slightly decorated, but not too much.

"If only Angelique were here, this would be so easy!" Cherry called as she had trouble with coordination and the decorating.

"Who?" Estelle asked.

"She is the decorator back in Belle and Adam's castle." Felicity explained.

Mo helped Cherry and Forte get the decorations together and handed the box of ornaments to the kids as they were standing next to the tree and where it seemed to be fun. The kids had a lot of fun decorating the tree and even made a game of it. Simon rolled over to the box and took out a candy cane, he then appeared to be sharpening it to make it into a pointy dagger.

"What is with him and sharp things?" Estelle asked.

Felicity only shrugged. She also questioned her younger brother's behavior.

Cherry took out a rather grim looking angel to put on top of the tree.

"Aunt Cherry, that angel looks scary..." Akito muttered.

"She's not an angel, she's a screaming Banshee," Cherry explained. "She's a woman from Ireland, her screaming wail hails doom to anyone who hear it."

"Nice." Estelle said.

Cherry went to put it on top after the kids finished decorating it.

"Good job, kids." Mo smiled. 

"Another Christmas..." Forte murmured as he crossed his legs on the couch.

"Yep." Mo said.

Forte sighed, rubbing his head slightly.

"Charles, that was years ago, Belle and Adam already forgive you, don't beat yourself up over it!" Cherry nearly snapped to her husband.

"I'm trying, Cerise, but this had plagued my mind since I first left them..." Forte said softly.

Felicity nuzzled against her father for comfort and support. Akito was now thinking of Eloise. Mo took out her camera and snapped a picture of the tree, then got on her laptop to charge up the camera and send the photograph to Atticus.

Estelle looked at her brother. "You like her..."

"Yes I do." Akito said.

Estelle smiled. "Puppy love..."

"Ah, l'amour..." Felicity added.

Forte laughed a little. "A child in love... It always seems to last forever... I had a childhood love once... Then I got married..."

"You popped the question..." Cherry glanced at him.

"Aw!" The girls said.

"Yes, I suppose I did..." Forte leaned back, spreading his arms across the couch. "So, who is the lucky girl?"

Cherry poured herself a drink in her prized wine glass and leaned against him.

"What time is it?" Estelle asked.

Cherry looked up. "A bit after 7:00. Why?"

"We are late!" Felicity stood straight up. "We have go to go!"

"Where's the fire?" Mo asked.

Felicity grabbed her pigtails, now even more alarmed. "The fire is on the hotel!?"

"No, what she means is, what's the rush." Akito said.

"Oh, we are meeting our friend again." Felicity then explained.

"Shouldn't she be spending the day before the night before Christmas with her OWN family?" Cherry asked as she sipped her drink.

"Yeah." Akito said.

"Well okay, but make it quick..." Mo said a little cautiously and she smiled as she saw an email update sent from Elizabeth and James who were looking after Angel and Scamp for her and Atticus during their holiday time off. "Aww..."

"What is it?" Estelle asked before they left to meet Eloise.

"Come here..." Mo got Akito and Estelle over.

Angel was shown next to Scamp in one picture by the fire on top of each other. The female pup appeared to be pregnant.

"Aw!" Estelle and Akito said.

"Is that your chein?" Felicity asked.

"Yes, I raised Angel since she was a puppy," Mo explained with a smile. "And now she's going to have pups of her own... Oh, I feel like a grandmother..."

"Aw!" Estelle said.

Mo was very proud. 

The kids were then released and as they were going down the hall, Eloise had just come the other way.

"Guys, it worked!" Eloise told them. "It really, really, really worked!"

"Yay!" Akito, Estelle, and Felicity beamed.

"Come on, we gotta see up close!" Eloise took Akito's hand and ran with her friends to her room.

Nanny had her glasses on and was reading something as the kids ran inside. "Young lady, there's something I have to say to you! I DO wish you wouldn't rush out of here with your new friends without at least telling me where you're going!"

Giselle looked to see what the kids were up to. The kids were now at the window. The kids could see Bill helping Rachel into the horse-carriage ride to take them to the theater and watch Gypsy. 

"I'm sorry, Nanny!" Eloise said quickly, very happy.

The phone in the room then rang. 

Giselle got the phone while her younger sister was at the window. "Hello? Hang on a minute~" she lowered the phone with a smile. "Eloise, someone very special wants to speak with you right away!"

Eloise ran to the phone and answered it. "Mommy!" Her eyes instantly lit up.

This made the rest very happy.

"A wonderful thing just happened!" Eloise found herself exploding with words as she rarely got to ever hear from her mother. "I can't wait to tell you when you get here tomorrow!"

There was a long dramatic pause.

"What do you mean?" Eloise sounded quickly disappointed, making Nanny and Giselle look to her in worry. "Can't you take a different plane? No, I understand... I know you will... I love you too, bye..." she slowly hung up the phone, her heart sinking in her chest.

"Whats wrong?" Akito asked.

"That was Mommy..." Eloise sat on the couch, her voice cracking from sadness. "They're not letting any planes take off to New York because of the snow..."

"Oh, Eloise, I'm so sorry..." Nanny whispered delicately.

Giselle sighed a little, taking out a laced hanky and wiping her eyes as she also missed their mother. Akito went over to Eloise as comfort. Eloise sniffled, then reached out to hug him. 

"Oh, I'm sure she'll do her best." Nanny gave Eloise a kiss on the forehead. 

"You still have me, little sis..." Giselle tried to make light of the situation. "And your friends are here."

"Oui, oui." Felicity agreed.

"Thanks, guys..." Eloise said quietly.

The kids were there for her, but still had to get back to their room. Nanny and Giselle kept Eloise comfort and company after they left.

"Poor Eloise... It must be hard to be her..." Felicity walked with them. "I have gone seven years myself without knowing my own mother before she and Papa reunited."

When they came in, Mo had the phone in her hands. "Kids, your father is on the phone." She said.

Akito and Estelle went to get it as they came into the room. Felicity then sat with her parents as Cherry was feeding Simon. 

"Hello?" Atticus spoke up, anxious to hear his son or daughter's or both voices.

"Hey, Dad, we can't wait for you to get here." Estelle said.

"Yeah, it's gonna be the best Christmas ever!" Akito added. "How's the case going?"

"I solved it and well, I'm sorry, kids, but I won't be able to make it, the plane to New York has been snowed in." Atticus said.

Akito and Estelle's faces paled, the same thing had happened with Eloise's mother. 

"But... But..." Estelle sounded depressed.

"I'm sorry, kids, but I have to wait until the snow's melted." Atticus said.

Akito and Estelle hung their heads.

"Okay, Dad..." Akito mumbled, though audible through the telephone.

"I'm really sorry, kids, I'll be back as soon as I can." Atticus said.

"Okay, Dad... Be careful..." Estelle said softly.

"I will, goodbye." Atticus said before hanging up.

Akito and Estelle exchanged saddened glances together and they hugged one another. 

"I'm sorry, sweeties..." Mo said as she hung up the phone.

The next day, it t was an exciting new morning, being Christmas Eve, even if Eloise would have to spend Christmas without her mother and Akito and Estelle would have to celebrate without their father. It had snowed over night, but there didn't seem to be a lot of snow around this morning. Mo came in as there were presents left at the door for Akito, Estelle, and Felicity and she placed them under the tree with the presents from Darla, Jessica, and Jim Junior.

Akito, Estelle and Felicity then went out catch up with Eloise. The elevator stopped to let Akito, Estelle, and Felicity get in and Eloise was there with others as she was dressed festively for Christmas Eve. The elevator then went back down and Eloise started to sing the 12 Days of Christmas and got the others to join in. They came to 12 days as the elevator opened up in the lobby and the people there with presents looked in curiosity and Eloise went to hand presents to everyone with Akito, Estelle, and Felicity's help and where it seemed to be fun. After the present deliveries for the hotel staff, Eloise and the others finished the merry Christmas carol. 

"This has been the happiest Christmas Eve I had ever celebrated next to the party at Queen Belle and King Adam's!" Felicity sounded delighted.

It even seemed like Akito, Estelle, and Eloise forgot their troubles about her mother and their father not able to come home in time for Christmas. Prunella was heard scolding on the phone, even though everyone else was filled with holiday cheer. The kids had an idea why she was doing this. Eloise went with her friends to get a closer look.


	9. Chapter 9

Prunella threw down the phone and came over to see the kids.

"Oh, poor Prunella, all that hard work for nothing?" Eloise mused.

"You would think they would know not to send folding chairs to a wedding!" Prunella snapped. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an hour to find replacements!"

"What?!" The kids exclaimed from shock.

"That means they're actually going through with it!" Eloise yelled out that the wedding was still on. "After we--"

Prunella glanced at the kids, now having a sneaking suspicion. "After what...? What have you four been up to?"

"Run." Felicity whispered to her friends, dashing off with them to avoid the icy woman.

"Me and Eloise will go warn Rachel, you two go and inform Mom, Aunt Cherry, and Uncle Forte." Akito said while running.

Estelle and Felicity then went up to their floor. Eloise was running with Akito to find Bill however. 

"Bill!" Eloise and Akito called out as they went into the kitchen.

The chefs were making a wedding cake.

"He left on his vacation." the top chef told them as he heard them come in for the man.

Eloise's mouth gaped open and she ran with Akito to now find Rachel. They had no time to lose, they had to tell her all about Brooks. 

"Rachel, it's us, Eloise and Akito!" Eloise slammed on the doors. "There's something you don't know!"

Brooks opened the doors and looked at them, seeming evil at the moment. "What sort of things? Let's take a little walk, shall we?"

"Over my dead body." Akito said while glaring at Brooks and protecting Eloise.

Your funeral, kid." Brooks picked them both up and started to carry them away quickly so no one would see him.

"Put us down, you evil-hearted, selfish, devil of a man!" Akito exclaimed from rage.

Brooks refused to and took them to a part that seemed to be off-limits to anyone and he put the kids in a closet.

"Rachel will never marry you now!" Eloise snarled.

"Who's gonna stop her?" Brooks taunted as he shut the doors and locked the kids inside.

"Let us out of here!" Akito called out.

Eloise slammed on the doors, then sighed. "This is the worst Christmas Eve ever... Rachel's gonna marry Brooks and everyone's going to be miserable!"

Cherry, Forte, Simon, and Mo weren't in the room when Estelle and Felicity came.

"Maman? Papa? Frère?" Felicity called to her family. "Où sont vous?"

"Where are they?" Estelle asked.

Felicity saw a note left behind written from her mother. "They are at the wedding!"

"Oh, no! We've got to go and tell them." Estelle said.

"Come on then." Felicity put the note down and ran with Estelle to get to where the wedding was being held.

Prunella was greeting people as they came in. 

"There's gotta be a way out of here..." Eloise took off her scarf and hat as she sat next to Akito. "What do you wanna do until we get out of here?"

"I guess we could just talk," Akito said, before he remembered something. "Wait, do you still have the walkie-talkie?"

Eloise checked her pockets quickly. "Got it!" She beamed once she took one out. "I don't know where the other one is... I hope someone helpful gets this..."

"Let's hope that someone finds the other one." Akito said.

"Nanny? Giselle? Anyone?" Eloise remembered she had put her spy kit back in the wrapped present before she left so Nanny wouldn't be suspicious.

"Hello?" Giselle's voice was heard.

"Giselle!" Eloise exclaimed. "Giselle, come in, do you read me?"

"It's me, Eloise, where are you? Nanny's gotten worried!" Giselle called back.

"Me and Eloise are locked in a locker in the downstairs and I mean downstairs, downstairs." Akito said.

"It's horrible!" Eloise added.

Giselle and Nanny then quickly got on their way, but it might take a little while.

"So, what do you wanna talk about?" Eloise asked after she felt better to know that help was on the way.

"Well, um, *gulps* Eloise, I've been wanting to tell you this ever since we first met." Akito said.

"What is it, Akito?" Eloise looked back at him.

"I really like you, Eloise, and I mean like you, like you." Akito said.

Eloise's eyes widened. "Oh, really?" She blushed in return, then bit her lip. "I-I actually kind of felt the same way... I didn't say anything, because I thought you'd think it was yucky... You're not just saying that and are afraid of cooties, right?"

"Of course not." Akito said.

Eloise rubbed her bare arm as she scooted closer with Akito. Akito then held her close to him. Eloise smiled, looking up to him. Before the kids could do anything to express their childhood friend romance, two voices were heard.

"Eloise, Akito!" Nanny and Giselle called.

"In here!" Eloise called, banging on the closet they were trapped in.

"We're in the closet!" Akito called.

Nanny could see them, but wasn't sure how to get them out.

"Let me handle this." Giselle told the elderly woman as she attempted to get the lock, but it needed a key, and she had none.

Nanny grabbed a heavy metal implement. "Stand back, I'm come, come, coming in!" she called. She slammed the metal against the door handles, crushing them and disabling the lock.

They then got out of the closet. Eloise and Akito took Nanny and Giselle's hands to rush up the ladder and stop the wedding. Felicity and Estelle were in the vents system.

"Come on, we gotta 'smash' the wedding!" Felicity called.

"I think you mean 'crash the wedding'." Estelle said.

"Whatever!" Felicity shrugged. "Come on, we got to go!"

Nanny was unsure about going too, but she did and they were all crawling around the vents. 

As they all looked out, the priest had Brooks and Rachel take hands as they got to the final part before the 'I do's'. They had to hurry. Rachel looked very hesitant to answer when she was asked to promise to love and care for Brooks until death they would part.

"No!" Eloise couldn't help but yell out, but it wasn't too loud.

Brooks thought Rachel had said that, but she then had the courage to refuse her marriage vows.

'Yes, she made the right choice.' Akito thought.

Bill had just come in then, much to everyone's surprise. Had he not left for Vermont like he said he would? Rachel looked very happy to see Bill while Brooks looked a little disappointed. She even happily went to him.

"Hm, juicy..." Cherry muttered with a satisfied smirk at this wedding's turn of events.

"Wow, I didn't see that coming." Mo muttered.

Eloise, Nanny, Giselle, and the others giggled from their hiding spot. Prunella had heard them and looked directly up toward them. Bill and Rachel were sharing a romantic kiss that the bride was only to share with her groom. This was a very romantic scene. 

After the wedding seemed to be called off, everyone returned to their respective rooms. Mo smiled as she shared Christmas Eve with her family, then the telephone rang.

"Uncle Atticus?" Felicity answered the phone. "Oh... Bonjour, Monsieur Peabody.... I am Felicity... Huh? Okay, I will tell everyone." she hung up the phone.

"What's wrong, Flick?" Cherry asked as she had just put Simon down for the night.

"He wants to speak with moi, Estelle, Akito, and Eloise right away." Felicity explained the call.

"Okay." Akito said.

The kids saw Eloise and Giselle with Nanny as they came into the elevator. Mo took the kids while Cherry and Forte would stay and keep an eye on Simon until they would come back. Eloise was a little nervous.

Max looked over at the kids and came closer towards Eloise. "By the way, they fit perfectly." He showed the present Eloise gave him over his gloved hands with a friendly smile, but hid them and continued to be quiet after the elevator stopped.

"I'll be right next to you." Akiro said as he held Eloise's hand.

Eloise blushed slightly and smiled to Akito. The kids got off the elevator with Nanny, Giselle, and Mo behind them. Mr. Peabody and Prunella were standing by Mr. Salamone's desk, ready to take the kids head on about the wedding their meddling with Rachel and Bill lately. 

"You guys go ahead, we'll be right here." Giselle told the kids and stood back with Mo and Nanny.

The kids nod. The kids walked together to meet the two adults.

"Merry Christmas, Mr. Peabody..." Eloise said in a soft voice.

Mr. Peabody gave a nod. "Children, I've been told today was your faults. Is that true?"

"Go on, admit it, you little wedding wreckers." Prunella demanded, sounding colder than gloomy old Cherry.

Mo clutched her fists, trying not to fight Prunella. Prunella kept quiet when she was asked to.

"Well?" Mr. Peabody was still waiting for an answer.

"We just wanted her to have a true love." Estelle spoke up.

"It would never ever be Brooks!" Akito added in.

"It just could not be." Felicity finished.

"So, you all decided to take manners into your own hands, is that right?" Mr. Peabody continued.

"Well... We may have slightly arranged for them to sort of run into each other..." Eloise admitted quietly. "But we had to, Mr. Peabody, if you just saw them together, I mean really saw them, you'd know that. And that's where her heart's always been. It's always been Bill, Mr. Peabody. They belong together." 

Mr. Peabody blinked. "So, it's true then? You four are all responsible for this."

"Yes." Akito said.

Eloise, Estelle, and Felicity only hung their heads. Prunella smirked as they were sad.

"Thank you," Mr. Peabody replied. "That's all I wanted to know."

Mo, Giselle, and Nanny then went to take the kids back upstairs.

Mrs. Thornton came down then with Mona. "What is the meaning of this? I demand to know why I've been summoned down here on this ghastly hour!"

Akito had a feeling something great was going to happen. Mr. Peabody showed that Mrs. Thornton had a guest. It was the Prince of Bulgaria. Mrs. Thornton's son Edgar was married to his sister and gave some of the fortune Edgar had made due to being loved by the prince's people as a token of gratitude. The kids all smiled and looked at Nanny, Giselle, and Mo, feeling like this was going to be a Merry Christmas for Mrs. Thornton after all. The prince saw the kids looking at him and he looked at them back, seeming familiar.

"Bill?" the kids whispered.

The prince only winked at them. 

"Your Highness, I'm told you're quite talented at piano..." Mr. Peabody said to him.

The prince and Mr. Peabody then left and Prunella was left in shock and despair. Mr. Peabody thanked the four children before leaving.

'You're welcome.' Akito thought.

"Thank you!?" Prunella yelled out. "Do you mean to say you're going to let some demonic child and others determine who's fit to marry your daughter!?"

"If she says one more word..." Nanny whispered, bearing her fist.

"Right behind ya." Mo agreed.

"A waiter!?" Prunella continued. "Instead of a fine, outstanding, citizen like Mr. Oliver!?"

But then, a man with Brooks, came in. Brooks was in handcuffs and was being taken by the mysterious man with the newspaper a couple of times before. 

"Brooks?" Rachel was concerned.

"Special Agent Kringle," the man showed his badge. "FBI. I've been watching Brooks here for the past week, and a fingerprint analysis just confirmed he's our boy. His real name's Jimmy Stutts, wanted in three states for forgery, fraud and expulsion."

The kids then grinned as things were going their way again.

"You were saying?" Mr. Peabody glanced to Prunella.


	10. Chapter 10

Meanwhile, at an airport, there was a woman with flowing blonde hair with a large hat dressed in a white fur coat and had expensive looking clothes and a purse as she left and had unknowingly ran into Atticus.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, sir..." the woman told him in a slightly thick French accent.

"That's alright, I'm on my way to the Plaza." Atticus said.

A taxi came, it was the only one available.

"I'm headed there too, would it be too much trouble if we rode the same cab?" the woman asked, seeing the slight predicament, they would both probably get to New York too late since they were both headed there and couldn't fly out.

"It's no trouble at all." Atticus said.

The driver allowed Atticus and the woman to get in the seat and they told him their destination.

The woman looked out the window. "It's always so anxious trying to get home in time for Christmas when you're an adult... I just hope my daughters aren't too disappointed with me after I told them I probably couldn't make it this year."

"Same with me and my twin son and daughter." Atticus said.

"Oh, twins," the woman smiled. "My younger daughter once told me about twins who came to the hotel, Bruce and Bobby... She said one of them liked her and the other didn't."

"That's nice to know." Atticus said.

"Oh, yes, I just love hearing her little stories..." the woman smiled. "My name is Sofia LaBelle by the way."

"Pleased to meet you, my name is Detective Atticus James Fudo." Atticus said.

Sofia had heard a lot about him.

"Wow, Monsieur Fudo, you lead an exciting life..." Sofia couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Probably due to being a detective and all..." 

The driver had them nearly to the Plaza Hotel without any troubles that the plane would have given them.

"Looks like we're going to make it," Atticus said. "Oh, by the way, where's your husband? Is he at the hotel?"

Sofia's smile stayed in place, but it seemed to emotionally change. "I'm afraid I don't have a husband anymore... He left as soon as I was pregnant with my younger daughter not being emotionally ready to have another child, so I have to leave home a lot and have my younger daughter in care of an old family friend and my older daughter in boarding school in her father's hometown in London."

"Oh, dear." Atticus said.

"It's hard to find the right person, I'm sure you and your wife are happy though." Sofia smiled softly.

"We sure are." Atticus said.

Sofia smiled.

"Here we are, folks, that'll be $10.95." the driver told them.

"Oh, allow me," Sofia took out her wallet and took out a hundred dollar bill. "Keep the change."

They then left the cab. Sofia took Atticus's hand, but only to cross out safely, not feeling attracted to him since she knew he was a married man and already spoken for. She put her hood up as it was a bit colder outside as they came to the front doors of the Plaza Hotel. 

Hark Hear the Angels sing was being played as the guests sang along and Nanny gave her boyfriend a kiss on the cheek. Estelle looked disgusted while Felicity looked intrigued and held her father's hand. Cherry kissed Forte on the lips briefly, then looked away into the distance. Mo felt a little left out, even Akito got to kiss Eloise. Atticus and Sofia then entered inside. Sofia put her hood down as they came inside and she looked to see the piano where Nanny, Giselle, Eloise, Estelle, Akito, and Felicity were.

Eloise glanced over sadly, but then she looked very happy instantly. "MOTHER!" she ran towards the woman who gave her a hug in return. "I knew you'd make it..."

Akito, Estelle, and Mo looked to where Eloise was and saw Atticus. Akito and Estelle rushed to Atticus, hugging him, they were glad their father was back too. Sofia then hugged Giselle and Nanny. 

"I absolutely love Christmas." Eloise chirped as she stood next to Akito.

"I love Christmas as well, not as much as I love you." Akito said.

Eloise then stood on her tip-toes, kissing Akito again as everyone continued to sing and they had a very Merry Christmas Eve and were sure that Christmas morning would be just as precious. And where that Christmas would be one no one would ever forget.

The End


End file.
